“Good morning, birthday girl,” JC sighed quietly, just above a whisper.

“I’m awake and neither of us drank that much, why are you being so quiet?” she asked. 

“Just felt like it, I guess.  Like it’s a secret between the two of us.”

“That it’s my birthday?” she wondered. 

“Don’t overthink it,” he smiled, booping her nose with his index finger. “Let’s get up and get ready for breakfast.”

They had showered, and Jenna was wrapped in a towel as she began her skincare routine. 

“Don’t,” he says softly. “It’s your birthday, let your natural beauty shine through.”

She nodded, blushing slightly at his words.

“Make sure you wear the teddy you packed,” he said calmly before running two fingers along the curve of her neck, placing a kiss there. As if his request were the most natural thing in the world.

She blushed harder now.  “All day, or just for dinner?”

“I suppose for dinner, but what if I get hungry before then?”

A shiver of excitement ran through her at the thought of him having easy access. She gulped, nodding slowly. 

“Just for dinner is fine, Jenna. I can make do if the mood strikes.”

She got dressed, putting on the black sweater dress and tan boots, her hair down. JC was blown away by just how breathtakingly beautiful she was, without even trying. He knew once he told her to do her makeup for dinner that he would be done for. 

They had breakfast downstairs at the Palm Court, Jenna in awe of the beautiful stained glass fixture in the ceiling. 

She perused the menu, unsure of what to get after having the French toast the day before. 

“Do you need a few more minutes?” their server asked.

“On the eggs benedict, can you make the yolk more firm? Like over medium, or a little firmer?”

“Yes sir, I’ll make a note of it.”

“She’ll have that. It’s her birthday, and I know that’s what she really wants. Right?” he asked Jenna, seeing her nod in response. “Maybe a little extra sauce, too?”

“What to drink, miss?”

Miss.  She was 40 years old and still being called Miss. It made her feel younger.  “Pineapple juice, please.”

JC looked at the menu again. “I’ll have the Plaza Americana. Over medium eggs, chicken apple sausage, coffee, and wheat toast.  And we’ll have a pain au chocolat each, please.”

They sat, not saying much, just enjoying the rare time together alone on the trip.  “When do you think Kelly will get back here?” JC wondered.

“It’s Kelly, who knows.  I’m not sure if I like Brian or not.  I mean, he did suggest…”

“He was drunk.  It was a one time thing, so it’s easy for me to forgive him on that.  With my past…”

“Are we really going into that here?  Now?” she laughed.

“No, but God knows I’ve done things I wasn’t proud of after the fact after a bender.  With any luck, she’ll wake up to the alarm I set on her phone last night so she gets back here in time.  Even luckier if he’s not awake yet.  I did make arrangements, don’t ask how, for room service to be brought up this morning. Maybe that will wake one of them up.”

“You’re an angel on Earth, Joshua Scott,” Jenna smiled.

“Just doing things I wished someone would do for me.”

“Speaking from experience?” she teased.

“What’s past is past.  You’re gonna have a great day today.”

“It’s only 9:00, Josh.”

“I also know what I have planned for you,” he smiled.

“You said you have something work related today?”

“Tonight.  But it’s more research than anything else, so it won’t even feel like work.  I won’t even tell you what it is, so you’ll have to guess.  Not that it matters in the long run.”

“Alright then, keep your secrets,” she said with a smile.  JC smiled back.  “Ok, you’re lucky I’m having your baby, to not get the nerdy movie reference…”

JC blinked. “Sorry, what?”

“I quoted a movie, and you act like you have no idea what movie it’s from.  I know you guys were still busy, but it’s a classic, from the book to the movies…”

“What book or movie?”

“Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.  The first one, in December 2001.  I’d tried reading the books when I was in middle school, but it was way over my head.  The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings were my dad’s favorite book series to read, until Harry Potter came along.”

“I love that you’re a sci-fi nerd,” JC chuckled.

“Only certain sci-fi, but this is fantasy because it’s not futuristic and no technology, it’s based on magic and magical creatures.  I could see how they can be confused to the indistinguished reader.”

“Hey, I’m well read,” JC said, defending himself.

“I know, you’ve been reading Greek tragedies for your musical, or at least you were in 2020.  Don’t think the fans have forgotten about that.”

“It takes years for that to come together before we even can put any kind of cast together.”

“Nice try.  I know the musical was in the workshopping phase after Jimmy Harry posted it back in August.”

“I’d ask if you’re stalking me, but…”

“Fans know who you guys all work with to follow them and hope to see what you’re working on next.  We know you’ve worked with Jimmy before, so when he posts, we hope it involves you.  It’s the only reason I followed Eric for a while.  I hope I’ll be privy to more information at this point, not having to resort to online stalking,” she laughed.

“That was during the time we weren’t speaking, I was giving you space after the kiss.  I wish I knew then what I know now, that the kiss meant more to me.”

“You were still with Jen at that point, you were trying to preserve that.  Anyway, you can’t use that to show off you’re well read when you’re using it as inspiration for work.  Kelly and I saw it 9 times in the theaters when it came out.  For the longest time, I’d play it on tape to help me fall asleep.  That and Harry Potter will put me to sleep if I’m wide awake in the middle of the night, because it’s so familiar.  I can’t listen to music, my mind wanders and I usually end up even worse off.”

“Why’s that?”

“At some point, my mind wanders into more metaphysical type stuff, like trying to wrap my head around Heaven, living forever.  It usually freaks me out.  Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see my grandparents again and all of that, but it’s more than my brain can comprehend, so it’s hard for me to sleep once I get on that track.  Not sure if it’s a particular song that brings it up, but it would happen at least once a week in high school.  At least if it was like top 40 radio songs on my playlist.”

“I’m learning more about you every day, and it’s fascinating,” JC sighed.  “Tell me more about younger you.”

“My senior year I was in a computer animation class, the first year my school offered it.  It was a joke compared to what they do now, and we didn't learn any coding or things behind it, just used programs where we directed premade characters.  We had to record our own audio, which was cool I guess.  I mainly remember it being PowerPoint with very quick transitions.  We started the year with doing an All About Me type project using the National Anthem.  Changing the words to show our interests.  Needless to say, I downloaded a clip of you guys singing the National Anthem, and made an *NSYNC themed presentation.  I also made a presentation of an astronaut flying around the screen to the chorus of Space Cowboy.  30 seconds of video took a LOT of slides to make it look smooth in moving him around.  He went to each corner before going to the middle, zooming in, then back out.  I’m sure there’s more that I did, but for other classes.  Junior year, my friends and I wrote a story that we were your girlfriends. Being 16, I of course was with Justin then. It was incredibly cheesy and made no sense. They were best friends, but she had no clue he was in this band, despite being a fan and living next door to her dad… I found it recently and it was awful.”

“Is it bad I wanna read it, see how bad this is?” he chuckled. “Tell me something else, more personal. You said something happened with your mom, she almost died?”

“She had a cough that wasn’t going away. She went to the ER, they did a chest X-ray and found nothing, so prescribed extra strength cough medicine. A week later and her cough was worse. They did another chest X-ray and found spots on her lungs. They ruled out TB but needed to do a biopsy on her lungs. Not sure what happened, but overnight she crashed, needing a breathing and feeding tube. Turns out she was allergic to the tubing, so when they took it out her throat closed up with the scar tissue. She had to have a tracheotomy device put in after the tissue healed. It was all really scary, and during my credential program so I’m doing school and student teaching on top of it. My grandma had died 6 months earlier, so Dad was terrified of losing her. I guess because of the trauma my mom went through, she is against it for me; worrying I’d have a similar reaction and experience. I get it, but I also didn’t want to die just ignoring it, you know?”

“Wow.  I guess that makes more sense, but you’re an adult, you can make your own choices.”

“I think once this passes, she’ll be fine. Recovery is over, I’m well enough to travel.  Well, I didn’t actually ask the doctor if I could…”

“I did. Before they discharged you, I made sure that you’d be ok to come on this trip. I wasn’t going to come here without you.”

“Josh, you’d put this off long enough because of me…”

“I didn’t want to be away from you on your birthday.”

“You could’ve flown home yesterday after you did your recording.”

“I like this better,” he smiled. 

…

They went back to their room, JC coming up with a plan after checking his phone for something.  His lips curled into a smile, curious how this would play out.  He unlocked the door, looking around the room a little. 

“You need to change, pee, anything?”

“I’ll brush my teeth,” Jenna shrugged.  JC took advantage of her being in the bathroom, turning on the TV and muting it the second he could.  He was thankful he could log into his Amazon Prime Video account.  He began a search, his smile widening further as he pressed to buy what he sought.  He got it cued up, waiting for her to come out.

Jenna walked out, focusing on JC instead of what was on TV.  He was laid out on the bed, looking as inviting as ever.  He’d timed it well that the screen was black, looking like the TV was off.  He’d turned the sound back on before she came out.  The remote sat beside him, his finger hovering over the button.  He pressed down, the movie beginning to play.

Jenna almost jumped, not realizing the TV had even been on, so for her to see and hear anything on it was a surprise.  Once the shock wore off, she recognized the familiar sights and sounds, sinking her head further into his chest.  “You planned this?” she wondered.

“Only once you made the reference, told that story.  I’d hate to be uncultured,” he laughed.

“I guess it's never too late,” she smiled.  “I want to read them to Liam when he’s old enough, hopefully he’ll want to read them too as a young adult.  He’s not even here yet and I’m already making plans for him.”

“I think most parents do,” JC assured her.

“Ok, you need to sit up, or else I’m guaranteed to fall asleep…”

“I will, but if you want to sleep, I’m ok with that.”

“This won’t interfere with your plans for the day?”

“Nope.  Your next thing is at 1, so hopefully you’re ok with not watching the credits.”

“Ok.  Be prepared for me quoting along with the movie.  It’s been a while, but it always comes back.  Just a note, I may also slip into an accent.  I used to, back in the day, after watching this.”

Sure enough, as if the last twenty years were twenty minutes, she eased right back into quoting the movie, missing bits here and there, but quietly quoting along.  “We’d sit in the back of the theater and do this, and people 5-10 rows in front of us would turn around and glare at us.  Guess we weren’t as quiet as we thought.”

“You can be quiet when you need to be,” he chuckled, his hand running lazily along her arm as he held her against his chest.

“I have incentive there, I suppose that’s why.”

At some point, he noticed the quoting had stopped.  He looked down, and she was asleep against him.  It had been a long night for them, but he’d have time to catch up on sleep later.  After the movie.  Her time in the day with Kelly would be the perfect timing for him to take a nap. 

As the credits began, he gently nudged her awake.  “Hey, you have time with Kelly in about 20 minutes.”

Jenna checked her phone.  “I got a text back from her.  She hopes we’re not doing a lot of walking.  Oh god, please don’t go into more detail…” she begged as she read through the long text.  “Thank god, nothing more than that.  She said thank you for the breakfast.  I guess they ate together cuz she sent me a picture of them both awake.  I feel bad, this looks like it could be the start of something, but he probably lives a million miles away.”

“There’s things called long distance relationships, especially with a great thing called the Internet…” JC teased.

“She doesn't do long distance.  Just doing the cyber nasty wouldn’t be enough, especially after knowing what a guy is capable of in person.  Maybe somewhat close, but only if the guy is average.”

“I guess we’ll have to try sometime,” JC smirked.

“Trust me, I know what my solo times are like, and you are on a whole other level.”

“You sure me talking dirty to you, seeing me, wouldn’t make it different?”

“I’ve told you how things go for me, you light me up inside, literally and figuratively.  Maybe that’s not the right phrase.  You hit places I don’t dare go, not without you.”

“That sounded dirtier than it is,” he chuckled.  “Even if it’s a one night thing, maybe she could get his number and see where things go.”

“Maybe.”

Jenna fixed her hair, a bit messy after falling asleep on JC, before there was a knock on their door.  JC opened the door to let Kelly in. “Alright, JC, you’re being super nice to me on this trip…” Kelly started.

“That’s a weird thank you,” JC chuckled.

“Thank you doesn’t even describe it.  Last night was… oh my GOD…”

“You gonna see him again?”

“No, we both agreed it was a one night thing, we have lives to get back to once this is over.”

“He’s married, then,” Jenna chimed in.  “Married or has a girlfriend.”

“Maybe a girlfriend, there was no tan line for a wedding ring.  We discussed it over breakfast.”

“I told you she doesn’t do long distance relationships,” Jenna stated.

“I don’t even know where he lives.  We had fun, but decided it was better off as a one night thing,” she sighed wistfully.  “And then a one morning thing… before and after breakfast.”

“Must have been enough of a connection for all that,” Jenna chuckled. 

“At what point did you have this discussion and decision?” JC wondered. “I could maybe give some insight.”

“Before the first time this morning, when we first woke up.  It felt nice to not wake up alone.”  Her voice sounded sad.

“To decide that, then do it two more times? I’d say he’s hooked.  If it was really over, I could see maybe one more as a goodbye, but two… he’s gonna regret this later.”

“Please tell me you exchanged phone numbers or social media info?” Jenna practically begged.

“Nope.”

“Kelly… you like him, though, I can tell.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not the hero in this story.  This trip is for you, it’s your fucking birthday today, Jenna, and you’re worried about ME?!”

Jenna pulled Kelly into a tight hug. “Always,” Jenna answered softly.  “You’re my best friend, you deserve your happily ever after, too.”

“I think I lost that chance, but who knows.  Maybe I’ll meet someone else that was just as nice, funny, smart, sweet, and damn good in bed,” she laughed.

“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to talk this over more where you're going next,” JC said.  “You’re going down to the Palm Court for afternoon tea, then you have appointments at the spa.”

“I don’t need a man if you have JC, he spoils me almost as much as he does you.  Well, maybe not ALMOST…” Kelly replied with a wink.  “Thank you, JC.  You easily could have made this a trip for the two of you and Eric, but you included me. Then with last night and this morning…  Thank you.”

“What will you do while we’re out?” Jenna wondered.  “Something planned with Eric?”

“No.  I’m gonna sleep.  You had a solid hour and a half to 2 hours during the movie, let me get a little to catch up.”

“We’re talking at lunch,” Kelly grinned.

“I’d rather eat,” Jenna replied.

“Have fun, and I’ll see you ladies back up here later.”

He watched them leave, the door closing behind them.  He thought about everything he had planned for this trip.  He should have felt nervous, that’s what everyone told him they felt, but he felt calm.  This had been a great trip after a rough time for Jenna, and she deserved anything and everything he could give her.