She came out of the bathroom, fresh from  a shower and peeing on a stick. More like two, just to make sure that she did it right. 

“How long before we can look at it?” JC asked, his excitement was evident.

“This says five minutes,” she answered, looking at the empty box.

“Are you feeling better after your shower?”

“I guess. No more throwing up for a while now,” she said, sitting on the bed and drawing her knees up to her chest.

He sat down next to her on the bed, and said, “Are you excited?”

“I don’t know what I am right now, Josh,” she answered honestly. 

“Come here. Let me hold you until we go check on the tests. You set your timer?”

“Right here,” she said, showing him her phone. He pulled her up into his embrace and rested his chin on top of her head. A few minutes later her timer chimed and they got up and he led her by the hand to the bathroom. 

She picked up the white stick and looked at the tiny window.  The test was digital.  She looked at the words on the screen.

Not pregnant. 

She looked up at him and said, “It says it’s negative.”

“Let me see,” JC said, taking the stick out of her hand and reading it for himself. She picked up the other test and it said the same thing.

Not pregnant.

He immediately pulled her into his arms, and said, “I’m sorry I got your hopes up, Mama.”  His grip was tight, JC trying hard not to cry, knowing it would set her off.  For something he’d never wanted before, the negative results were a bit of a blow.

She looked up at him and he had tears in his eyes. She closed her eyes, and laid her head on his chest. “I’m sorry I got yours up, too.” 

“No. It was just an idea. I thought maybe, because you were sick and all… I’m sorry I put the idea in your head.”

“I’m ok,” she sniffed.  “You really want a baby though, don’t you?” 

“I’m happy with just having you. But, that dream you had means something, And I know that sometime soon we will have a little boy named after our dads.” 

“So, should we talk about this more?  Actually planning on having a baby together.”

“You make it sound so… cold, clinical.  Not like we love each other and want a family.  It’s like you want a baby and I’m just a donor.”

“Definitely not that situation, you don’t get the fun in trying that way,” she smiled.

“Let’s get through all of this, the surgery and treatment, get the green light from your doctor first.”

She pulled away from him and snuggled down in her pillows. “I’m tired, I think I want to take a nap. Being sick really took it out of me.”  

He covered her up with the blankets and kissed her tenderly on the lips. “I’ll let you rest. I’m gonna go work in the studio. If you need anything, text me. “

“OK.”

“I love you, Jenna.” he said, cupping her cheek.

“I love you too,“ she said, her eyelids getting heavy.  He watched her fall asleep and then went downstairs to the studio, where he made a phone call.

“Hey,” Justin said on the other end of the line. “I heard from Lance that Jenna’s results came back. That’s great man, I’m glad it’s not cancer.”

“You and I both. Listen. I want to do something for her. Just for her. I need your help,” JC  said, sitting in his chair behind the mixing board.

“Sure, what do you have in mind?”

“I want to record some songs. Just for her.  Get back in the studio and sing again. But, I need a producer that knows me. Would you do that for me?” 

He sat there for a minute. “Jenna has brought you back to life, C. I’m so glad to see that again. I was beginning to wonder.” 

“Thanks, I think. Her birthday is coming up in November. I want to have it done by then.”

“What kind of vibe are you thinking? Are you gonna write the songs? Or do you want to do covers? “

“I’d love to write all of them, but with the time constraints, I think that covers would be the way to go. “ 

“I love it. Sure. When do you want to start?”

“Whenever you have time, man.”

“I can start tomorrow,”  Justin replied with a grin. 

“Tomorrow works,” JC grinned back. “Thanks for doing this.”

“I’d do anything to get you out of the funk you’ve been in. Meeting Jenna was the best thing that’s happened to you in a while.”

“Don’t I know it?” he grinned to himself, as he opened up his laptop and scrolled through the thousands of songs on it in a file. 

“I gotta go. Tell Jenna I’m happy for you guys,” Justin said, picking up Phin and putting him on his hip.

“Thanks. And I will. See you tomorrow.” He waved at Phin, and they ended the call.

…

A few hours later, he heard a light tap on the studio door. The door was cracked, she stuck her head in and said, “Need some company?”

He took off his headphones and put the laptop on the counter. “Only if it’s you.” 

He reached out for her, pulling her down into his lap. “You smell good. Did you take a shower?”

She smiled and shook her head yes. “Yeah, I feel more human than I have in the last few days.”

“That’s good.”

“What are you working on?”

“Just a cover project for a client of Eric’s. “

“What kind of covers?”

“Classic R&B. Some more modern. I think it’s gonna turn out great. I think the client will love it.” he smiled at her, she had no clue she was the ‘client’. He felt better about this project he had concocted in his head for her birthday than half of the things that he had done in the last few years. And they had not even laid down any tracks or anything yet.

She smiled, and his heart melted. “ My favorite producer, doing what he does best.” 

“Oh, now that you are here, I want you to listen to something.”

“OK,“ she heard the beginning of “Always Remember Us”.

Then she heard herself singing in the booth, like she had never heard before. 

“I remixed it and if I didn’t know better, I’d say that you have a track for your first album. This is gold,” he said, adjusting himself under her in the chair.

She felt a tear come to her eye.

“Hey, what’s this?”

“No one ever thought I ever had any talent before.  Not this level at least.”

“I’m sure Kelly has told you a million times that you are talented. “

“She’s supposed to, she’s my best friend.”

“And I’m your boyfriend. The only person who stops you, Jenna, is you. You could make it. You really could. But, I know that’s not what you want. You want to be in the classroom with your kids having a dance party to *NSYNC music. Teaching is your passion, and so is music. I just wanted you to see and hear what I do when I hear you sing.”

“I could say the same about you. Without the teaching part,” she said, standing up and straddling him in the desk chair.  She captured his lips with hers.  She pulled his shirt up and only broke their kiss to pull the shirt off of him and onto the floor. He worked her top up over her head, happy to see that she had never put on anything under her t-shirt after her shower, her breasts on full display right in front of his face.  He took one into his mouth, while massaging  the other with his hand. He pulled back. “Not in this chair.”

“You’re no fun,” she said, standing up and he pulled her over to the old leather couch, where he pulled her down on top of him and into an intense kiss.  He slid his hands onto both sides of the pajama bottoms that she wore and pulled them down her legs, discarding them onto the floor beside the couch.  She slid his boxer briefs and shorts down to his knees. She slid herself down onto him, groaning in pleasure. 

“Mama wants it,” he hummed as she began to ride him there on the couch.

“Daddy talks too much.” she said, setting a rhythm, becoming more feverish and passionate. He held onto her hips to keep her as close to him as possible. She kissed him with a passion that she never had before, and he was loving every minute of it.  He felt his climax approaching, and whispered, “I’m so close.”

“Let go, Daddy,” she almost screamed, being close to the brink herself.  His warmth flooded into her as he let go; and she followed, riding the wave of complete and utter pleasure, her body contracting around him. 

She laid there on his chest on the couch, spent. He brought his arms around her.

“You OK?”

She smiled, “I'm great baby, how about you?” She traced the outline of his face with her hand.

“I’m more than OK.“ He grinned back at her as he rolled her on her side. She whimpered in displeasure when he pulled out of her. He smacked her playfully on the butt, and said, “We should continue this upstairs.”

“We just finished…”

“It’s cute you think we’re done,” he said before he booped her nose.  “If I had my way, we’d do this all day, every day.”

“I’m not opposed to that idea,” Jenna smiled.  “Best sex I’ve ever had, best boyfriend I’ve ever had…  Definitely sounds appealing.” 

“You don’t have to be anywhere until work on Monday.  I say we live in the bedroom, not even getting dressed.”

“We need to eat,” she laughed.  “And birth control or not, that much sex just might get me pregnant.  That goes against your whole ‘not until after the surgery’ timeline.”

“You saying you DON’T want to have sex all weekend?” he teased.

“Don’t go putting words in my mouth.  We’ll do what we do best.  I’ll cook for us, and you, well, you know,” she smirked.

“Pretty sure we’re both good at that part,” JC smiled back at her.

“I dunno, it’s been a while since I’ve practiced that skill.”

“Coulda fooled me.”

“Well, just the last part.  The stuff before that, to varying levels, but even then…”

“You didn’t need practice, you’re a natural talent.  Just like the clip I played for you.  I can’t believe no one has told you how good you sound.”

She looked at him.  “How did you get through life without hearing that before MMC?”

JC shrugged.  “Yeah, that all happened so fast.  I’m glad it did, though. It led me to everything I love, including you.”

“Now you’re getting delirious,” she giggled.  “I’ll go make us some scrambled eggs, something easy on my stomach.  Can I trust you not to burn toast?”

“I dunno, this newfangled toaster has me all confused,” he smiled.  “I think I can manage, once I’m taught by someone.”

“Baby, we have a lot we can teach each other…”

…

“So you’re a grape jelly kinda girl,” JC said, watching Jenna spread jelly on her toast.  “It fits you, sweet and smooth.”

“You’re tangy… wait, that didn't sound right.  Though tangy is better than sour.  Ugh, why can’t I make a good raspberry preserves reference?”

JC smiled.  “Thank you for breakfast, lunch, whatever we’re calling this.  I wish I could do more in this department.”

“I get to cook for my boyfriend, I don’t mind.  My grandma would be very happy, rest her soul.  Any time I’d bring a boy home, which wasn’t very often, she’d start getting ideas…”

“Ideas?”

“Planning the wedding.  I love her, but it was like that’s all I was meant for, was to get married.  She met my grandpa in college, dropping out once they got engaged.  She told me, once Steve proposed, that I didn't need to finish my degree.  I could teach, if I really wanted to, with the units I had, or just stay home and raise our family.”

“Wow.  I see where your mother gets it from.”

“This was my dad’s mom, but yeah.  She meant well, in her own way.  If only that had been an option.”

“What?”

“Being able to stay home.  Our whole future was riding on me getting into a program that let me finish my degree while working and making a teacher’s salary.  That’s not saying much, and put a lot of pressure on me before the marriage even started. He had no clue what HE was going to do to help support us, but he had a plan for how I was going to work myself to death between work and classes.  The first year of marriage is hard enough, let alone with all that stress to keep a roof over your head and food on the table.  He said he’d dreamed of being a stay at home dad, and I laughed at the idea of that happening on a teacher’s salary.  I really dodged a bullet, looking back now.”

“Sounds like it.  Lots of pressure, and shitty sex…”

“I wouldn’t say shitty, but not everyone can be as fantastic as you.”

“If I’m fantastic, you’re…”

“Let’s not get into this,” Jenna said, pausing the conversation.

“Jenna, you really think you’re that bad?  After the number of times we’ve already had sex, have I ever complained about anything?”

“No, but you’re a guy. As long as you’re getting some, it’s better than your hand.”

He cracked a smile.  “That’s true, I suppose.  But you don’t give yourself enough credit for a lot of things.”

“Between a controlling mother and a father who thought teaching was the only thing I’d be good at…”

“What ideas did he shoot down?”

“I wanted to be a singer, even had a rough plan after senior year.  I have you guys to thank for that. But even before then I told him I wanted to sing, write…  I even tried to sign up to be a model through Barbizon, but they called and left a message on the machine, and dad put an end to that right away.”  

“What did WE do?” JC wondered.  

“I wanted to open for you guys, steal Justin for myself.  I’m glad it didn't work out, because now I have you.  OK, maybe that came out wrong.”

“It came out perfect.  If things had happened that way, we wouldn’t be together.  We might be friends, but nothing like this, and I like this option better.”

“Me too,” she smiled softly.  

He kissed her, pulling himself from his chair.  He dropped to his knees before her, his hands on her hips.  “It’s gonna sound cheesy, but I’m hungry as hell and you’re just so delicious, I need a little sweetness…”