The next morning, she woke up before JC did.  She wanted to stay in his arms as long as possible, but also had a strong urge to pee and had no clue what time he needed to be at Peloton.  

She carefully got up and went into the bathroom, turning on the water for the shower. She stepped into the shower as she saw steam start to come from the shower. 

She closed her eyes, starting to quietly sing to herself as she felt the water cascade over her. She nearly jumped when she felt an extra set of hands gently trace over her waist.

“Good morning, beautiful.  Sorry if I startled you.”

“I should just assume if I’m in the shower, that you’ll find me,” she smiled. “What time is your thing with Peloton?”

“In a couple hours. We have time for a little something before breakfast and the rest of the day.”

“A little something?” she giggled. “There’s nothing little about you, Josh.  Especially that,” she says, grinding her ass against the thickness between his legs at full attention and ready for her. 

“How do you want this?” he asked, kissing her neck.

She turned to face him, pulling her arms around him, her lips crashing against his as she pulled herself against the wall of the shower.  He pulled a leg around his waist, slowly pressing into her. 

“Do it, Josh. Fuck me, I need it. Even after last night.”

“I couldn’t sleep, I’m still on California time.”

“Fuck me, Josh.”

“God, Jenna, you’re insatiable…” he growled as he pressed in with one thrust of his hips, stealing a gasp from her throat.  “I love it. I love you.  I can’t get enough.  I…”

“Less talking,” she moaned, half order and half pleading for him to continue. She wrapped her other leg around him, JC using his forearms to support them against the wall.  

He kissed her frantically, sloppily as he pushed and pulled her towards that peak. He was already mostly there, doing his best to hang on as she got closer to the edge. 

“Josh, oh my god. Yes… YES!”

“Cum for me, Jenna.”

“Yes, I’m right there.  Oh god…”

He gave one more thrust before he toppled over the edge, pressing his whole body against hers, pressing her firmer against the wall as they caught their breath. 

“Can I say it now?” he panted. 

“What?” she wondered. 

“I love you. It’s your last day in your 30s. Can you believe that?” he asked, washing her arms and shoulders with her loofah and body wash.

“Are you kidding me? I have to constantly remind myself I’m not 18-25 anymore, even though in my head and based on my musical tastes, I totally am.  Being with you makes that younger version of me happy, at least the fangirl part. Older me is happy to have the other parts of you; someone who genuinely loves me, cares about me the way you do.  The sex is a great perk, too.”

“We both enjoy that,” he chuckled, kissing her neck.  “Let’s actually shower and get ready. Think Kelly will notice?”

“I think it’s a given now for my happier state of being.  Not that I wasn’t before, but it’s different.  Think Eric will know?”

“Again, probably a given.  I just can’t help it.  Catching up on all that time we lost from when we met to when we got together.”

“That was only a few weeks, Josh.  Not like it was years upon years, unless you’re counting me seeing you at concerts, you having no idea who I even was.”

“Is it bad that I wish I did?  I know there’s an age gap, but by the time things were kinda over, you’d have been 18…”

“Almost 20 during the last tour.  I wouldn’t have known what to do with you.  As shy as I was at first about things between us, 20 year old me definitely couldn’t have handled it.  I hadn’t even had a serious boyfriend yet at that point.  Well, one.  Maybe… no, not yet.  It all blurs together at a point.  I was 18 on the last tour, almost 19, and didn’t get into my first relationship until that summer.  He was 4 years older, I felt like I had to do things to keep his attention. You’re 6 years older, and a major star at that point. I definitely would’ve felt pressure to…”

“Maybe from the guys, but not me.  If you were fine with just making out, I would’ve respected that.”

“Still, it wasn’t a good match at that point.  Somehow, right now was the point in our lives where we needed each other.  Well, where I needed you.”

He turned her around, looking down at her with eyes ablaze.  “I need you like the air I breathe, Jenna.  You opened my world up to things I never thought possible.  I needed you just as much as you needed me.  Never doubt that, Jenna.  Never.”  He pulled her close, his kiss soft but passionate.  She had been nothing he expected but everything he needed, for the rest of his life.

They got dressed, both dressing casual in jeans and long sleeved shirts.  “I’m sure they’ll have stuff I can wear at the studio, stuff I’ll probably get to keep after so they don’t have to worry about laundering it.  I’m sure you’d be welcome to stuff, too, if I asked. Some sports bras, little shorts…”

“Easy, tiger.  We have breakfast soon and I don’t think you wanna go around all day at least at half mast.”

“I can’t help it.  Picturing you in that stuff, getting all sweaty…”

She rolled her eyes.  “Never change, Josh.  I hope you always stay this horny man that can never get enough.  Just nothing creepy, the usual healthy loving and sexual relationship with a partner.”

“I’ll try my best,” he laughed. 

“I mean, if some of these older Hollywood celeb guys can get women pregnant in their 60s and 70s or older, I see that being us at that age.  I just gotta keep up this physique…”

“You're beautiful however you are.  Everyone changes over time.  My parents don’t look like they used to, but they still love each other.  That’s how things stay around, the love that’s between two people.  I want our grandkids to look at us and see how much we love each other after all those years.”

“Then we better hope Liam has kids right away if we wanna be old enough to be grandparents and still be alive.  If he waits as long as we did…”

“He isn’t even born yet and you’re wanting to marry him off and be grandparents?” JC laughed.  

“Only so we can look back at all the years we’ve had together.”

“I’m ok with looking ahead for right now, planning out what we’ll do with those years ahead of us.  Starting small, then working to the bigger picture.”

There was a knock at their door, Erc and Kelly ready and waiting in the hall.  They grabbed their jackets and headed downstairs.

Eric led them into the champagne bar for breakfast, the room bright and airy, the perfect pick me up to start the day.

“I’ll have something light since I’ll be on a bike,” JC laughed.  “I think I’ll just do the yogurt parfait.  Little bit of protein from the yogurt, nothing too heavy.”

“The french toast sounds good right now, especially since I can’t have the eggs benedict.  Stupid pregnancy diet ‘rules’. That would be my go to otherwise.”

They all ordered breakfast, Eric also getting a variety of pastries for them, JC thankful but not wanting to overdo it before his workout.  He’d been prepping for this, doing some of the rides Cody did and such, especially once they sent him a Peloton bike to make sure he was familiar with their bike for an easy transition to doing the ride.  He’d had it since before Jenna's surgery, having pushed things back because of it, and did a little every day as he had time.

It was mid morning when they took a private SUV to the Peloton studios.  “You ladies wanna stay in the green room?  Be with me before everything and maybe a little after while I shower and change back into regular clothes?”

“I think we all know Jenna is in, maybe willing to help you out with anything you need,” Kelly teased.

“She’s not wrong,” Jenna whispered in his ear.

“I’ve got a couple things I need to take care of while I’m here, I trust you to get back to the hotel in one piece.  It’s not all business for him this trip, mainly for this and one other thing tomorrow.”

“You have something work related on my birthday?” Jenna asked, admittedly disappointed.

“You’ll see,” JC replied with a smile.  “It won’t be as bad as you think.  Neither will today, I’m sure you’ll enjoy parts of it.”

They entered the studio offices, JC in a black baseball hat just in case, since he would announce the episode later that day on social media.  The last thing he needed was to have his cover blown by a random fan seeing him go in. Not that they would know why, but still.

They were led to the green room, racks of various clothes hanging up.  He looked through the racks, pulling items to wear.  He walked to a section of the room set up so he could change, Jenna and Kelly sitting on a couch. There was a table with fruit and cheese and crackers and meats.  

He stepped into the main portion of the room. “Now I just wait,” he sighed, walking towards the couch. 

“What on Earth are you wearing?” Kelly gasped. 

“What’s wrong with it?” JC asked. 

“Honey, I love you, I really do, but shorts OVER those pants? One or the other, baby, but not both, not like that.”

“The pants are a bit tight, if you know what I mean.”

“Good, give the fans watching something to look at,” Kelly said with a smirk. “Not like we haven’t seen anything like that from you before. I can find several pictures of videos of…”

“I believe you,” he interrupted. “Still, no.”

“Then just wear the shorts,” Jenna suggested. 

“With my luck they’ll find an angle that goes right up and they’ll get a peek that way.”

“Who knew the man who wrote the sex songs of our generation is also a prude,” Kelly chuckled. 

“Those are two very different things in my head. It’s one thing to write out and sing those songs to an audience, but the actual act itself is very private for me.  Some people wouldn’t care and just bang Jenna in front of anyone else in the room, but for me, it’s intimate, personal, private.”

“And now I wish you hadn’t said that, picturing you on her…”

“That’s enough of that,” Jenna signed nervously.  “I know it’s cold outside, but the zippers up long sleeve pullover. It’s like you don’t wanna show any skin. Did they not have a turtleneck?”

“Actually, no.”

“The turtleneck king without a turtleneck? The world is ending…” Kelly teased. 

“10 minutes, Mr. Chasez,” a voice called from the other side of the door. 

“I’ll go see where they want me to come in from, get any direction before going out,” he said, pulling Jenna up into his arms, kissing her gently but with lingering wanting for more. 

They turned the TV in the room on, watching the feed as they got ready for JC to come on. Jenna watched as they did the warmup, wondering why he wasn’t part of it. He was soon brought on screen and into the room, Jenna wishing the mirror behind him showed more of his ass. She felt less like his girlfriend and baby mama and more of a fan at that point, watching to see if they’d play *NSYNC music and hanging on every word between JC and Cody. 

She watched, riveted by how effortless he made it look, like he wasn’t even breaking a sweat. She knew she would, especially with all the layers he was wearing.  She was sad when it was over, even though she knew she’d get to see him in front of her in a few moments.

Sure enough, JC came into the green room, grabbing things before going to shower.  He kissed Jenna quickly before going to clean up and change.

“So what do you think we’re doing the rest of the day?” Kelly wondered.

“I wish I knew.  Eric’s doing something for dinner tonight, not sure what.”

A short time later, JC returned, showered and ready to go.  “I’d ask if you're hungry, but seeing as how much food is gone from the plates,” he chuckled.

“I‘m pregnant, I’m starving,” Jenna laughed.

“I barely had any, so I could definitely eat,” Kelly added.  

“I feel bad,” Jenna sighed.

“Hey, you have nothing to feel bad about.  I also checked with them, on the way out we can get any workout stuff you might want for yourself,” JC said softly.

“I’ll need it, eating as much as I am,” Jenna continued.

“Maybe you just have a high metabolism because of everything right now,” Kelly said.  “Your hormones are changing, so maybe you won’t even know based on this alone.  Do it because you want to stay healthy for you and Liam, not out of guilt.  You used to use the gym at our place all the time.”

“Cuz I had the free time, it got things off my mind,” Jenna replied.

“I’d say you exercise and I’ll cook, but we know how that would go over,” JC laughed.  “We’ll find time together to exercise, beyond Kelly's idea, not that I’m opposed, but it’s very different.”

“Yeah, you usually stay clothed for the first version,” Kelly teased.

“Can we not discuss this right now?” Jenna said.  “Let’s go downstairs, I’ll pick out a couple things, and then we’ll have lunch.”

Kelly gave a sheepish look, knowing she had upset Jenna.  As much as this would be ok with any other guy, Jenna was really wanting to protect her relationship with JC, including not spilling details she might have otherwise.  

They walked out of the Peloton studious, Jenna having bought a couple sports bras and a pair of leggings. JC walked them to a crosswalk, crossing the street.  “Ladies, after lunch, you’re going shopping. My treat.”