One Month Later – May 2005
Los Angeles, California

“Joey, I think the seamstress wants you to stop moving around before she pokes you with that army of pins she’s got lined up,” Piper announced as she watched Joey fidget.

“Hey, it’s not my fault that I can’t stand still,” he protested, sending a lopsided grin in her direction.

“Could’ve fooled me,” the seamstress muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Is he still giving the seamstress a hard time?” Joey’s wife, Kelly, questioned as she appeared at Piper’s side.

“What else would he be doing?” Piper retorted.

“Yeah, that’s my husband for you,” Kelly agreed, “Anyway, I’m supposed to be telling you that Lynn and Justin need to see you.”

“What now?” Piper cried, throwing her hands up as she stormed out of the room.

“I don’t understand how she puts up with Justin,” Kelly mused as she glared at her husband to stand still.

“Probably the same way you do me,” Joey replied, grimacing as a pin stuck him square in the leg.

“By threatening to poison his food?” she wryly demanded. Joey stuck his tongue out at his wife.

It had been a month since Justin had flown to Michigan to tell Piper the shocking news of Cameron’s pregnancy. True to his word, Justin asked Cameron to marry him, much to everybody else’s dismay and wedding plans were steadily moving forward. All the guys were busy getting their suits measured and pinned and Kelly and Piper had practically been dragged along by Justin’s mom, Lynn.

Piper had finished her freshman year at State, and with her parents’ permission, had accompanied Justin back to California to help prepare for his June wedding, of which she would be taking the pictures. Once there, she had met Lynn, who had quickly become like a second mother to her.

And of course, she saw JC and Genevieve again, as well as the other three guys. She’d been the most excited, however, when she had first been introduced to Joey’s wife, Kelly, and their little girl, Brianna. The two women had instantly hit it off, and Brianna was starting to think of Piper as another aunt.

Piper was overwhelmed with the friendliness of Lance, Chris, and Joey, and Kelly’s ability to accept her as a friend right off the bat. She had never had so many friends at once, so she felt very blessed. Everything would have been perfect, though, if Justin wasn’t being forced to marry Cameron.

“What’s wrong Justin?” Piper demanded as she walked into Justin’s dressing room. He stood there in black suit pants and a white dress shirt.

“I wanted your opinion on color,” he told her, grabbing two vests, one gray and one black, from a chair.

“Personally I think the black would be better,” Lynn piped up as Piper came to stand next to her.

“Put each one on so I can see,” Piper instructed, Justin did as he was told, “Hmm, what do you think Justin?”

“To be honest with you, I don’t really care,” he said, “I wasn’t the one who wanted to get married.”

“Justin…” Lynn began, eyes flashing a warning as if daring him to say something inappropriate about his bride-to-be.

“Hey Jus, come here, let me talk to you for a second,” Piper said as she dragged Justin out of the room before he could protest.

“What was that for?” he demanded as soon as they were out of earshot of everybody else.

“Stop being such a pain in the ass,” she hissed at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I can be a pain in the ass if I want. I don’t want to get married, yet here I am, being forced into doing that very thing,” he retorted, frowning.

“It’s not the end of the world Justin,” she told him, “Worse things could happen.”

“Name one thing,” he challenged, eyes flashing with blue fury.

“Hmm, you could be dead,” she deadpanned.

Justin took one look at her face and began to laugh. With a roll of her eyes, Piper poked him in the ribs. Knowing exactly what she wanted, he pulled her in for a tight hug, enjoying holding her close.

If it wasn’t for Piper, he’d probably be going crazy by now. It was true, there was no way he wanted to get married now; but Piper was right, he’d have to make the most of the situation. And he definitely didn’t want to be dead.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he murmured against her hair as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“You’d have already jumped off the tallest building you could find,” she retorted, giggling.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he agreed.

The two of them fell silent, lost in their own thoughts. They were unaware of the spying eyes that had taken in the entire situation.

“Ouch, Chris that was my foot you just stepped on,” Lance whispered to the older man.

“Sorry,” Chris replied.

“Lance, I can’t see over your hair,” Joey urgently added.

“It’s cause he spikes it too high for all the ladies,” Chris joked; Lance smacked him across the back of the head.

“What’s happening now?” Joey demanded.

“They’re hugging,” Lance whispered.

“Too bad Justin has to marry Cameron,” Chris commented.

“Why?” Joey and Lance asked.

“Well duh you idiots, he should marry Piper,” Chris announced, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Yeah, she’s definitely one of the only people who can stand him for long periods of time,” Lance agreed.

“And she’s single,” Chris added.

“One problem: Cameron,” Joey glumly concluded.

“Justin and his stupid penis,” Chris commented; Joey and Lance had to stifle their laughter at that.

“Joey? Where did you disappear to now?” Kelly suddenly interrupted their spying, “The seamstress isn’t done with you yet, mister.”

“Shit, we better get out of here before Kelly busts us,” Lance stated.

“Geeze Joe, you need to put a leash on that woman,” Chris commented, ducking out of the way as Joey tried to smack him.

The two of them took off across the store, Lance following at a leisurely pace behind them. He was shaking his head.

“Some things never change,” he muttered to himself.

“C’mon Justin, let’s get you back into that dressing room so we don’t have to spend all day here,” Piper suddenly announced as she pulled out of his embrace, oblivious to all that Joey, Chris, and Lance had witnessed.

“Okay,” he quietly agreed and mutely followed her back to where his mother patiently awaited his return.

“Did you pick a color?” she asked, standing up from her chair when the two walked in.

“I think black would probably be best,” he softly announced.

“Good choice,” Lynn said and soon, Justin was in another room with a seamstress, leaving the two women alone. Lynn turned to Piper, “Is he okay?”

“He’ll be fine,” Piper assured the older woman, “He doesn’t want to get married, but he said he’s going to try to make the best of the situation.”

“That’s my son for you,” Lynn agreed, “I’m not happy with the whole situation, but I’m glad that he’s man enough to accept the consequences of his actions.”

“Yeah, most guys wouldn’t do something that decent,” Piper agreed, thinking of Andrew.

“I’m just glad that you’re here to keep his spirits up. Lord knows he’d probably be drowning himself in alcohol if he didn’t have you to snap him out of it,” Lynn stated, pulling the young woman in for a hug.

“Well Justin’s a great guy and I’m incredibly glad that we got to be friends,” Piper replied, resting her head on Lynn’s shoulder, “I just wish I could see him happy.”

“I know what you mean,” Lynn agreed.

Piper’s cell phone suddenly rang, interrupting the moment, and with a groan, she walked over to her purse to answer it. She picked it up, and not recognizing the number on the caller ID, decided to answer it anyway. She knew that Rae had recently gotten a new cell phone, so it could have easily been her friend.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Piper? Hi, this is Cameron,” the shaky female voice announced. Piper frowned.

Piper had met Cameron weeks ago, and despite the fact that she had cornered Justin into doing something he didn’t want to, she had taken a liking to the older woman. But they hadn’t talked more than a handful of times, so the phone call was odd. Especially when she had never given Cameron her number.

“This is her, what can I do for you?” Piper responded.

“I kn…know this is strange of me to ask you, but, do…do you think you could come over?” Cameron asked, tears threatening to spill.

“What’s the matter?” Piper demanded, sensing the older woman wasn’t telling her something.

“I…I can’t tell you over the phone,” Cameron whispered, her voice still shaky, “Could you come talk to me. Please?”

“Sure, I’ll be there in a bit,” Piper reluctantly agreed.

“Thank you,” Cameron breathed, sniffling. Piper’s curiosity rose another notch as she realized that Justin’s bride-to-be seemed to be crying.

“No problem, I’ll see you in a bit,” Piper concluded before hanging up.

“Who was that?” Lynn questioned, noticing the troubled look on Piper’s face.

“Oh, it was Cameron, she wanted to talk to me a little more about the pictures I’m going to be taking,” Piper lied, “Do you think it’s okay if I borrow Justin’s car?”

“Be my guest,” Lynn replied.

“Okay, I should be back within an hour,” Piper announced, “Tell Justin not to get into any trouble while I’m gone.”

“I’ll be sure and do that,” Lynn agreed with a laugh.

Sighing, Piper quickly made her way out of the building and towards Justin’s SUV, her thoughts troubled. Cameron had seemed awkward and nervous every time they had met to discuss the pictures, and Piper had readily chalked it up to guilt and cold feet. But maybe she was wrong.

Twenty minutes later, Piper rode the elevator up to Cameron’s apartment, her thoughts no more organized that when she had left the tailor’s. Hesitantly, she knocked on the door, shifting nervously from foot to foot. This was the first time she would be alone with Cameron so she wasn’t quite sure how to act.

The door opened, and Piper was shocked to come face to face with a very beat-up looking Cameron. Her jaw dropped as the older woman tried to smile, then burst into tears. Piper immediately came in and enveloped her in a hug.

“I’m s…so scared,” Cameron brokenly whispered, “I t…told him that I didn’t w…want to see him anymore and that I was getting m…married, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Shh, slow down sweetie,” Piper soothed, rubbing a hand up and down the taller woman’s back, “C’mon lets sit down. I’ll make you a cup of coffee and you can tell me exactly what happened.”

“Okay,” Cameron softly agreed, allowing the younger woman to lead her to an overstuffed couch.

Once the coffee had been brewed and the two of them sat with a cup, Piper gently prodded Cameron. The older woman proceeded with a deep sigh.

“I know you really don’t like me because of what I’ve done to Justin,” Cameron began, holding up a hand when Piper tried to interrupt, “And I really don’t blame you. I don’t like myself all that much right now.”

“Cameron, don’t say that,” Piper softly said.

“It’s the truth though. And you’re going to hate me even more when I tell you the whole reason for trying to get Justin to marry me,” Cameron continued.

“I’m sure you’ve got a perfectly good reason for your actions,” Piper responded, sending the actress an encouraging smile.

“I do have a reason, but it’s not all that good,” the elder said, taking a deep breath, “When I first started to pester Justin about getting married…”

Once she started, the whole terrible story began to pour forth from Cameron’s mouth, like a raging river kept back by a damn for altogether too long. Piper sat there silently.

When she and Justin had started to get serious in their relationship, Cameron had begun to think about marriage. Justin was a great man that any woman would love to have as a husband, and she definitely wasn’t getting any younger.

She wanted to have a family, have children, the whole nine yards, before she was unable to. That was why she had begun to push at Justin to seriously consider taking their relationship to the next level. Of course, he had gotten cold feet at the idea; he was still young after all and didn’t have to worry about being unable to reproduce.

That’s when she had started cheating on him. She had wanted a baby so bad that she had resorted to seeing another guy, who readily agreed to give her all that she desired. Justin never had a clue.

Oh she hated lying to him, but the need to have a family overrode the guilt. Unfortunately, she had not counted on her lover’s violent streak. Once Jeremy Armand had found out about Justin, which hadn’t taken long, he had blown up at her. That first encounter, thankfully, had only been a heated argument and a few slaps across the face, nothing to cause lasting damage; but from then on, things had only gotten worse. All she found herself doing was running from him.

He wouldn’t leave her alone, claiming that she belonged to him and that he would kill himself if she left him. Of course, she was scared that he would actually do it, so she kept seeing him behind Justin’s back. Who, of course, she was still preaching marriage to.

Finally, she and Justin had broken up, much to her horror. He was the one link to sanity she had left, the one constant that could comfort her and provide her with the safety she now sought. But his comforting arms were no longer her’s to run to.

After the break-up, she had disappeared for a two-month long vacation, away from Justin’s drunken escapades, and away from Jeremy’s anger. She had thought that the vacation would somehow provide her with an answer to all her problems. She was wrong. She returned, no better than when she had first left.

And Jeremy had come for her the instant he realized she was back. There really wasn’t anything she could do. If she tried to get a restraining order on him, he’d take his story to the tabloids, which would ruin her career, and hurt Justin even more, which she was trying to avoid at all costs. So she stayed with him, against her better judgment.

The violence, the heated arguments, and the pain lasted for a year before she knew she had to make a change. She was going to go to Justin and explain the whole story to him and seek his help. He might be angry at her at first, but she knew that he had a kind heart.

That was about the time she had discovered she was pregnant with Jeremy’s child. The one thing she had desperately wanted, prayed, begged for, was now some unwanted baggage that she didn’t have the heart to get rid of.

Her plans were drastically changed after that. She now had the life of her child to protect, so naturally the only thing she could think of was finding safety. And that safety rested, once again, in the arms of Justin Timberlake.

She had followed him to the club that night, fully planning to talk things out with him while he couldn’t escape. She hadn’t counted on him being so drunk that he didn’t even recognize her. So she capitalized on the situation.

Justin had readily agreed to come back to her apartment where she blatantly promised him a romp in the sack. Of course, that was the last thing on her mind that night, so once she got him there, she had planned to get him even more drunk until he passed out. She didn’t even have to give him anything.

He had passed out the minute he reached the bed. She had stripped him of his clothes and then climbed naked in the bed with him, so that when he woke up in the morning, he would think the worst. And of course, she wouldn’t tell him otherwise.

That was precisely what had happened. And after waiting three days, a good enough period of time to figure out if she was pregnant from their “encounter”, she dropped the bomb. She had showed him the pregnancy test, never letting on that she had already been pregnant for two weeks with another man’s baby.

“I knew Justin would marry me when he found out that I was pregnant with his child. He’s such an honorable person that would never let a child of his own go fatherless,” Cameron concluded, softly crying, “But I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep lying.”

“Oh Cameron,” Piper breathed, speechless.

“Jeremy was here about an hour ago. He finally found out that I’m getting married to Justin, and needless to say, he’s not too pleased,” Cameron said, wincing as she touched her split lip, “I really don’t know what to do anymore. I can’t go through with this marriage; I can’t lie to Justin like that. He deserves better. But how am I supposed to face him? I can’t even face myself in the mirror anymore.”

The actress suddenly burst into tears at the last statement. Piper immediately pulled her close, rubbing a soothing hand up and down Cameron’s back as she sobbed out her frustrations. Honestly, what options did the elder woman have in this situation?

“Shh, everything is going to be fine,” Piper whispered, “You and I are going to get everything straightened out.”

“You’ll help me?” Cameron questioned, looking surprised as she pulled away from the younger woman, “Even after all I’ve done to Justin? I know that you really care about him, and I would have thought that you’d hate me by now.”

“I don’t hate you Cameron,” Piper assured her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it reassuringly, “You just made some mistakes, like any other human being out there is capable of making. We’re just going to have to work extra hard to fix all this.”

“Piper Saunders, you are too wonderful,” Cameron said, sniffling, “Justin deserves somebody like you in his life.”

“Justin and I are just friends,” Piper assured the actress, grinning, “We pick on each other too much, not to mention the fact that he doesn’t find me the least bit attractive.”

“Oh I bet he does,” Cameron argued, a wobbly smile breaking out on her face, “With a little bit of make-up and the right clothes, I bet you could have Justin falling all over himself.”

“But…” Piper protested.

“C’mon, are you trying to tell me that you don’t find him the least bit attractive?” Cameron prodded, full-out smiling; Piper blushed. “He is Justin Timberlake after all, the man that looks like a Greek god reincarnate.”

“Maybe just a little,” she confessed, and then hurried on, “But he’s one of my best friends. I don’t want to compromise the great relationship for a stab at something more, most especially when he probably doesn’t feel that way at all.”

“Whatever you say,” Cameron finally stated, deciding to drop the subject for the time being. But without a doubt, she’d be playing matchmaker in the near future. And maybe she could get Chris involved as well. He was always one for a challenge.

“Well, we had best get you to the doctor so he can check you out,” Piper announced, shoving her racing thoughts away, “We better make sure that your baby is alright.”

“Okay,” Cameron softly whispered, trepidation in her voice.

Fifteen minutes later, Piper had managed to get Cameron to the hospital and in to see a doctor without a single reporter or fan stopping them. While the actress was in being examined, Piper immediately pulled out her cell phone and called Justin.

“Hey Piper, did you get lost?” Justin cheerily demanded, seemingly in better spirits, “My mom said you were only going to be gone about an hour. Is everything alright with Cameron?”

“Actually, I need you to meet me at the hospital,” she bit out, cutting right to the chase.

“What? Are you okay? Is Cameron okay? What’s going on?” Justin demanded, his voice rising with every question.

“Cameron’s been in an accident and needs to talk to you,” Piper revealed, “We’re at East Valley General right now.”

“Oh my god, is she going to be okay?” Justin cried, worry coloring his tone, “Shit, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

He hung up the phone without waiting for a reply from Piper. Dejectedly, she hung up the phone. Cameron was wrong. Justin only saw her as a friend, nothing more. No, he still cared for the actress, that much was evident by the concern in his voice.

But it didn’t matter. She was five years younger than him, a mere child in his eyes. She couldn’t even drink yet, wasn’t experienced in the ways of the world. Why would he find her attractive?

Besides, he was just her friend. That was it. Justin Timberlake would never amount to more than that; she knew it deep in her heart. After all, how could she compete with an actress as beautiful as Cameron?