It had been just over a week of JC basically living at the hospital before they got the best news they could hope for.  “Today’s the day, Jenna.  You get to leave here.”

She smiled softly.  “Thank you.  I’ll miss it here, at least all of you.  Thank you for everything.  I know they’re trained in caring for me post surgery, but what about Liam?”

“As long as you’re not having seizures, keeping up with the new medications, you should be fine and only need to be seen once a month or so.  You’ll be under close monitoring, so if there’s any changes in anything, they can check on him.”

“And will Josh be able to stay?  I keep telling him to go home, sleep in a much more comfortable bed, but…”

“If anything happens, I want to be right here.  The drive over here takes too long for me to be comfortable leaving you here.  Consider this training in being a good husband and father,” he smiled.  

“He can stay with you, similar to here, in a chair.  I believe a private room has been secured.  He’ll have access to the in-room bathroom, so it’ll be just like here.”

“Josh, I’ll be there 4-6 weeks, you can’t do this that long.”

“Then I’ll find a hotel or something, find someone close to the home I can stay with.  I’d rather be with you just in case anything happens, so I’m sure I can get creative in staying with you.”

She would be transferred by ambulance to her facility, JC meeting them there with her things.  Karen came to take any flowers and things that had been left for her from coworkers and friends.  She tried to encourage JC to stay at his home overnight, but to no avail.  Jenna felt like a crowd was following her out to the exit, everyone wanting to see her off and wish her well.

“You made quite the impression around here,” one of the nurses said.  “By far our favorite patient in a while.”

“I think it’s more of the company I keep,” she smiled weakly, looking at JC.

“You know that’s not true,” the nurse smiled back.  “You’ll have regularly scheduled doctor visits once you’re released to go home after leaving the recovery center.  We wish you all the best, and might stop by when we aren’t on shift here.”

JC watched them load her into the ambulance, wishing he could ride with her. He headed to his Jeep, following the ambulance to the care facility. He had looked up reviews and things online, but hadn’t physically gone to see the facility, any paperwork he could do ahead of time at the hospital. 

As he pulled in behind the ambulance, he saw a beautiful exterior, with a fountain and lots of flowers by the main entrance. He could see Jenna wanting to sit out there as a reward for walking from her room. It was a two story building, looking inviting from the outside. 

He parked the car, going inside to finish paperwork while they got Jenna settled into her room. The first 30 days would be covered by her insurance, but anything beyond that would be out of pocket.  JC signed the remaining paperwork, thankful it was a short process so he could be with Jenna more.  

He headed to her room, Jenna now in her new bed.  Nurses were connecting her to leads for a couple different machines.  The bandages around her head were gone, her hair down to hide the shaved portion.  JC didn’t understand what the machines did or monitored, but all he cared about was that she would be getting the best care possible, on her way to being herself again.  

He stopped and thought, realizing the Jenna he knew had had that tumor, so he wondered if things would change any now that it was gone.  He was relieved that it wouldn’t cause more seizures for her, even on medication, but was still worried.

Jenna noticed the look on his face, waiting until they were finally alone.  “You ok?  I feel like I should be used to this by now,” she said, gesturing to all the leads and wires, “but it’s still weird for me, too.”

“It’s not that.  I’m relieved you don’t have the tumor anymore, but you’ve had it as long as I’ve known you.  Now that it’s gone…”

“I’m still that same person, Josh.  The tumor didn’t give me a different personality or anything.  All it did was give me more seizures and headaches.  I’m still in love with you, the last week or so since the surgery should prove that to be true.”

“I know, but I guess for some reason, I figured this was like in a movie.”

“You still would have seen that shift right away.  I’m sad I won’t get as many visits to check on Liam, though.  I’m curious if it IS a boy.  What if Liam is our second, or third…”

“Hang on there, Jenna, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” JC chuckled.  “I’m 46, not exactly a great age to have more than one kid.  Better me than you, but still.  I’m not saying I don’t want this baby, but to have more than one is a big jump from originally not wanting any…”

“Now I’m curious…”

“What?”

“If you’ve been through anything like this in the past.  Had a woman tell you she was pregnant, how you dealt with it.”

“Does it matter?  They weren’t you and this baby.  I’m not saying it has or hasn’t happened, but…”

“What would you have done if you still didn't want kids, Josh.  If they told you the day of my surgery, what would you have done?”

“I’d have left it up to you. I love you, I wouldn’t make that choice for you.  Don’t get me wrong, if it was saving you or the baby, I’d choose you, but that doesn’t mean I’d let them take it away from you if that wasn’t what you wanted.  I’m glad you told me about your dream, it changed my perspective.  If we hadn’t been talking about it as much as we did, I don’t think I’d have been as happy about the result.  I don’t know, maybe I would have changed in that moment, wanting you and everything that comes with our relationship.”

“Would we have broken up?”

“Jenna, why does it matter? I love you, we’re having this baby, I’m all in on this.”

“I guess now it’s my turn to overthink things,” Jenna smiled. 

“At least we can talk each other back down,” he replied. “You like the room, though?”

“Josh, it’s like any other room in a medical facility.  It’s sterile, waiting for the next patient to come in.”

“We can make it feel more like home,” he answered, taking out some of the pictures and things she’d had in her hospital room. He started going through his phone.  “I’ll take some of the pictures of us together and get them printed out, framed.  Fill in the holes around the house where…”

“Josh, is this all too fast?”

“Jenna, it’s been about 6 weeks…”

“Still.  I know my parents got engaged after a month, but it also took them 5 years to finally get married.  We’ve been together 2 months and I’m living with you, having your baby…”

“You’re different from every other woman I’ve ever been with.  I think it’s ok things are like this already.  Giving me a head start on the life I finally want.  If we took our time, maybe Liam would never come, and we’d be kicking ourselves for not starting sooner.  I’m still fuzzy on how that all happened, if you’re on birth control.  I mean, we tried to be careful, but…”

“After being in the hospital, I don’t think my birth control was one of the things I took while I was there.  It should have stayed in my system for a while, I wasn’t in the hospital THAT long, but apparently it was enough that it all happened.”

“I’m excited, Jenna.  Yeah, with other women I’d be freaking out, but it just feels… right.  I’m not afraid of this, at least in a healthy way.  The whole ‘can I handle it?’ thing, not the ‘oh god, what do we do?’ freakout.  I know exactly what to do.  Love you and this baby the best I can for the rest of my life.  I may doubt my capabilities, but I don’t doubt us.”

“You are fully capable.  Your mom talked to me at one point about how you are with your nieces, I think you'll be a great dad.”

“I want to be, I know that.  I have a great group of role models.”

“Including Chris and Joey?” Jenna giggled.

“Yeah.  It’s weird, though.  I wonder how the fans will react when word gets out.”

“Over you being a dad?  Probably thrilled.  Over it being with me and not Jen, so quickly?  Maybe not so much.”

“That’s on them.  I’m excited.  I want to scream it from the rooftops.  I also wanna wait until we’re engaged.  Good thing I’d already been planning that before all of this happened.  I’m still working out the details, but yeah.  I won’t lie, it’s gonna hurt Jen.  Not that she wanted any of this, at least not all of it.  I can’t live my life worrying about what other people are going to think, though.  We’re together, having this baby, and I’m over the moon.  Anyone else can support us or mind their business.”

One of the nurses walked in to check on how Jenna was settling in.  “Mr. Chasez…”

“Please call me JC or Josh, I’m going to be here with Jenna for the time she’s here…”

“About that.  You like the chair you’re sitting in?”

“Yeah, it’s actually pretty comfortable.  I’m sure it's more for her, given the other chairs in the room, but…”

“Grab the armrests and push on the back of the chair.”

JC did as told, the chair stretching out and becoming a recliner.  “Oh, well.  Much nicer than the one at the hospital, and more comfortable for sure.  It’s official, unless Jenna needs this chair, I’m staying right here for the duration of her stay.”

“Josh, I’ll have therapy and such to go to.”

“I’ll sleep when you sleep, maybe sleep during your therapies, I’ll make it work.  I don’t want to be too far away from you, Jenna.”

“You have clients to meet with, things to do.  Josh, I can’t…”

“None of it is more important than you.  Next therapy session you have, I’ll grab my laptop and as much that I can do from here as possible so I’m working on things while I’m here.  Is that ok?”

“I guess so, yeah. I just don’t want you regretting anything.”

“My only regret is not meeting you sooner.”

“Jenna, PT and OT will be here soon,” the nurse said.

“Oh, I guess I’ll get ready to grab my things,” JC stammered, surprised she’d have therapy already.

“Take some time for yourself, Josh.  I mean it.  Go see Lance or Justin, other friends.  It’s ok to have a life outside of me.”

“Eric is pushing me to go to his Halloween party…”

“You should go.  It’s not that far away time wise.  I’m sure you won’t want to go tonight, but go out to dinner with friends, see other people. I’m not going to let you just sit here because of me.”

“But if something happens…”

“I’m in a place with people trained to take care of anything.  They’ll let you know if it’s something serious.”

“Ok, fine.  More proof that you’re good for me.  I’ll see you in a bit.  Love you.”  He kissed the top of her head and made his way to his car.

…

There was a knock on the door, JC and Jenna looking towards the door, expecting another nurse coming in.

They were admittedly surprised to see Justin walk in slowly, leaving the door open.  He looked back, going towards the doorway.  “Now you wanna be shy?”

Justin entered the room again, Silas in tow.  “Hi, Ms. Pollard,” Silas said quietly, his cheeks reddening.

“I wasn’t even your teacher, Silas, it’s ok to see me not at school.  It’s especially nice that you came to visit me.”

“Dad said I should bring you cards your class made for you.”

“You were excited earlier to see Uncle C.  What’s wrong, bud?” Justin said, crouching to eye level with Silas.

“All these people.  Daddy, are they going to die?”

Justin’s eyes widened.  “Well, ummm.  That’s a tricky question, kiddo.  This is a recovery center, so they’ve had surgeries or got hurt that they need help to get back to normal.  So probably not, no, and definitely not Jenna.”  Justin smiled at Jenna, a soft smile spreading across her face.  

“Are the machines scaring you, Silas?” Jenna wondered.  The young boy nodded, trying to hide behind Justin as best he could.  “They scared me, too, when I was little.  I’ve had this my whole life, but I’m a grown up now.  It’s not so scary once you get used to it.”  She paused a second, motioning for him to come closer.  “Between you and me,” she whispered, “it’s giving me superpowers.”

“What?!” Silas gasped.

“I become braver, stronger after being here, a little bit at a time.  I may never get to be like Wonder Woman or Ghost Spider, but I can use my powers to help the kids at school become a little braver and stronger.  I think it’s working already with you…”

Silas nodded his head again.  He handed her the collection of cards and drawings he’d held in his hands.  “The one on top is from me.”

“Thank you, Silas.  You know, you’re a lot like your dad over there.  You’re kind and caring, even if you need a little help being brave sometimes.  I heard you had my co-teacher when you were in Kindergarten…”

“Yeah, she was awesome,” Silas smiled.  “She said they miss you, and hope you feel better soon.”

“Let her know I feel better, my body just needs to catch up a bit.  Today is a good day.  I’m getting stronger little by little.  My speech is almost fully back.  I have the words, now it’s just stopping the slurring.  It’ll come.  Our bodies are incredible things, especially when we don’t give up.”

Jenna looked at JC.  ‘Should we tell him?”

JC blinked.  “I guess.  Isn’t it a little early?”

“Don’t tell me you’re engaged,” Justin chuckled.  “Not that there;s anything wrong with that…”

“Not yet,” JC sighed.  He looked at his best friend.  “Liam.”  it took one word, and Justin understood.

“How long?”

“6 weeks,” Jenna answered, her hand running over her stomach.

“Your secret is safe with me.”

“What secret, Daddy?  Who’s Liam, or what’s a Liam?”

“I’ll tell you later, buddy.  Or I’ll let them tell you soon enough.  For now, it’s something for just grownups to know about.”

“Will you tell Mommy?” Silas asked.  

Justin looked at the couple across the room, both nodding gently.  “Yeah, buddy, I will.  But you can’t know for a bit, ok?  I promise you’ll find out, but once kids are allowed to know, ok?”

“Ok,” Silas sighed, still not happy with being kept in the dark.

“We should get going, but we wanted to say hi, see how you were doing.  Jenna, you look great.  We’re happy things are going well, in more ways than one.”

JC stood up, crossing the room to hug Justin.  The two held the hug for a few seconds. “You get her on the first try, or what?” Justin laughed quietly in JC’s ear.  “Seriously though, congrats.  You’ll be a great dad.”  They clapped each other on the back before letting go.

They watched the father and son walk out of the room, a soft smile on Jenna's face.  “This is really my life now, isn’t it?  Being friends with Justin Timberlake?”

“It’s a pretty good place to be, I won’t lie.  Silas is a good kid.  I don’t see them as much as I probably should, living so close and all, but we show up for each other when it matters most.  Right now, I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of Lance and Justin, maybe even Joey and Chris.”

“I don’t deserve this, Josh.  How did I get so lucky?”

He sat on the edge of her bed, leaning against her and wrapping his arms around her.  “I’m the lucky one,” he said.  “No doubt about it.”