JC sat on his deck watching the sunrise with his hot mug of coffee in hand. It had already been doctored with a good measure of Maker's. He was trying to ward off the foul mood he had been in for the last few days. He woke up over an hour before, not able to sleep so he had come out and sat.

Today he was 46. And what the hell did he have to show for it? He had a house in the hills and could live comfortably for the rest of his days, and a beautiful girlfriend. But, all he felt was empty. He was running on fumes and had been for awhile.

He was working with a new artist he couldn't stand, doing appearances for Eric when need be. But otherwise, nothing. He had messed up the one good thing that had happened to him in a while.  Sticking his foot in his mouth with her had really screwed with his mind somehow and he couldn't shake it.  Even knowing she was taken care of wasn't enough.  He had been thinking about her constantly.

He stood and walked to the edge of the balcony, looking out over the valley. People kept asking him what he wanted for his birthday. He finally had an answer for them. Peace. He wanted peace of mind. Just a little peace.

…

Jenna stood in front of her mirror getting ready for her new adventure in life.  She could barely sleep the night before thinking about how to set up their room. What her lesson plans were gonna be like. How her co teacher was gonna be. Excited did not describe how she felt at the moment.

She heard Kelly humming a familiar tune as she walked out into the kitchen. She found her there, making coffee and she had small cupcakes set out with happy birthday logos on them. 

"Good morning," Kelly said, handing her a cupcake.  Jenna smiled and took the cupcake and set it down. 

"Are you gonna contact him today?" Kelly asked

"I don't know." Jenna said, shaking her head. She was still really hurt by what he had said, but blown away by what all he had done for her.

"Come on, Jenna. Put him out of his misery and at least wish him a happy birthday  You know you want to.”

She looked at the cupcake. She slid out her phone and went to the text string with his name on it and tapped out a message and sent it. 

Hey. Just wanted to say thank you.  You are a great guardian angel. Hope your birthday is good one, you deserve it. Jenna

…

His phone chimed and he pulled it out of the pocket of his jeans.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw that it was a message from Jenna.  He read it and smiled.  He tapped out a message and sent it back.

Hearing from you was the best birthday gift I could have received today. Thank you.

He could not help the grin that spread across his face as he made his way back upstairs to the bedroom. He laid down on the bed, and fell fast asleep with the smile still on his face.

…

"I just don't understand why you don't want to go to this dinner. Eric has done a lot to make this happen for you and your birthday, Josh."

"I don't care, Jen. I don't want to go. I'm tired of being the one that gets him photographed everywhere. I just want to stay home, kick back and have a beer and watch TV or a movie.  It’s not about me. It's about publicity . " 

"What do I tell him? That you have lost your mind? Or maybe you are finally having a midlife crisis?" 

JC’s blood started to boil, the good vibe he had after Jenna’s text was gone. He stood up and grabbed his keys off the table. "I don't give a damn what you tell them, or him.  I'm out." He walked past her and to the front door, Jen hot on his heels.

"Josh, what's wrong with you? " she asked with genuine concern. He never acted like this. 

"Nothing," he said, starting the Jeep and driving away before she could say anything else .

…

Jenna had just gotten home from the bus stop when her phone began to buzz. It was a number she did not recognize, but she answered anyway. 

"Hello? "

"Hello, is this Jenna?" A deep bass voice asked.

"Lance? " she said with surprise.

He laughed, and said, "I guess my voice gives me away."

She giggled. "What's going on? Wait, how did you get my number?!" 

"First things first. I was wondering if you had heard from JC?"

"No. I sent him a birthday text this morning and he responded but not since then. Why? "

"He and Jen got into it, and he left the house around noon. No one has seen or heard from him since. " 

"You want me to call him, see if he answers? "

"Only if you want to."

"Let me call him. I'll call you right back."

She hung up from Lance and dialed JC’s number. 

It rang and rang and rang, then went to voicemail.  She waited until she heard the tone and said,  "JC….It's me. Lance called me. You have everyone worried. Call someone back. Please. " 

She called Lance back.  "He wouldn't answer for me either."

"Justin went out looking for him.  This is not like him. "

"Can we come back to my second question for a moment? How did you get my number?"

Lance chuckled.  "Let's just say I stole it from JC's phone one day.  If nothing else, it let me put you in my phone for when you come to an event.  Now you have my number to tell me directly, in case you aren't talking to JC beyond wishing him a happy birthday."

“I will Lance, when I’m ready.  It felt nice though, getting back into things with him.  I hope he’s ok.  We know he hides form the public, but to hide from his friends…”

“He doesn’t wanna go to the dinner Eric is doing.  I think it’s because of you.  He wants to make things right somehow.”

“We will, I hope.  Someday, somehow.”

“If this was a musical, now would be a great segue into a musical number…”

“I gotta go, it’s my first of my new job.  It’s just us for now, but still…”

“OK.  Bye, Jenna.”  There was silence as he waited for her to say goodbye.

"Lance…?

"Yeah?”

"Please keep me in the loop. "

"Will do."

…

Justin had gone to all of JC’s haunts, and found nothing. Now he was really getting worried. Until finally, when he was driving through the parking lot at the Pier on Santa Monica Beach. He finally saw JC’s Jeep. Once he saw it, he knew where he was. 

He walked up the old Boardwalk to the surf shop and walked in the open door. And there he was, standing there talking to the owner of the shop, Jerry.

"Bout time you showed up," JC said, without missing a beat, not even looking at Justin, seeing him in his periphery.

 “I've been looking for you for hours.  What the hell man? Hey Jerry." Justin said, shaking the old man's hand.

"I didn't want to be found…" JC sighed.

"Let's walk man," Justin said, and Jerry went to help a customer.

"Jen called you, didn't she?"

"No. Lance did.  We are all worried about you. " 

"I'm not gonna jump off the pier, T. I just needed some space. " 

"That thing with Jenna still has you fucked up, doesn't it?” he asked as they moved down the sidewalk. 

 “I guess." 

"Has she made contact?" 

"This morning.  She sent me a text." He grinned thinking about it.

"Maybe you should go talk to her, now that she made contact. You and I both know you won't be at peace with yourself until you do."

"Maybe " 

"What do you want me to tell them? "

"That I'm safe.  But I want to be left alone."

Justin shook his head and took out his phone.

…

Jenna set herself up for a night of Friends and pizza. She had just sat down on the couch when the buzzer buzzed on the door. She got up and went to the door and hit the button.

"Can I help you?"

"It's me," the male voice said into the speaker. She hit the button again and waited. Minutes later, there was a light tap on the front door.

She stood up and went to the door, and opened it. There stood a somewhat disheveled JC in front of her. 

"Get in here," she said, ushering him in the door, shutting it behind her. He opened his arms to her, and she gladly went into them. He engulfed her with those arms. They stood there for several minutes like that. He kissed the top of her head, and let out a big sigh.  

Jenna looked up at him and asked, "Are you ok?" 

"I am now," he smiled, feeling better than he had in weeks. 

"Happy birthday, JC ." 

“It is now," he said, releasing her. He saw the pizza on the coffee table. "Got any more of that?" 

"Yeah. On the counter, beers are in the fridge." 

"Do you mind? I'm starving. "

"No. Not at all. Go sit, I'll get it," she said as he went and sat on the couch. She walked the plate and beer over to him and sat down next to him. 

They sat and ate and watched Friends in silence for a long time. He had worried it would be an awkward silence, but it was comfortable, Jenna unconsciously scotting closer to him on the couch.  His body was aware of her warmth against him, lifting his arm for her to scoot further into him.  This is nice.  I missed this, I missed her.  I finally got what I wanted, somewhat.

They didn’t talk about what had happened the last time he was there.  Things were comfortable, as if nothing had happened at all.  They both knew that wasn’t true, but were feeling good about things not being awkward between them at the moment.  Eventually, he noticed that she had gone to sleep with her head against his shoulder and he pulled her tighter into his arms and continued to watch the show, sinking down into the couch. The exhaustion of the day finally hit and he drifted off as well.