For everyone, Sunday morning came too quickly

At 6:30AM, the alarm clock next to Justin's bed clicked on, and the incessant beeping pulled him out of his dreams. Shockingly enough, those dreams had been about Emma. It wasn't sexual, or even romantic, they had simply been at a park with Riley playing on a swingset.

But, Justin didn't normally have dreams like that.

Justin didn't normally dream at all. He was usually far to exhausted from his daily activities, or far too involved with the currant woman sharing his bed to allow his subconscience to take him somewhere.

He absentmindedly clicked off the alarm and regretfully crawled out of bed. By his new routine he crossed the hall and checked on Riley. He smiled softly at her peacefully sleeping body, tucked under the Winnie-The-Pooh sheets and then went back across the hall, into his bathroom and got in the shower. Just as he was getting out of the shower he heard the doorbell ring and he quickly wrapped a towel around his trim waist and jogged downstairs. All the while wondering who could be at his door at quarter after 7 in the morning.

He yanked open the door and was shocked to find a suddenly wide eyed Emma, bags surrounding her, as she nervously stepped from foot to foot and tried not to focus on his bare, well-sculpted chest, and the water droplets that clung to his broad shoulders.

She was certainly not prepared for him to open the door in such a state of undress. She hadn't ever really been a fan of NSYNC, and not even a fan of his when he went solo either. She hadn't really paid any attention to him.

But, there he stood there in front of her, a half-smile and a confused expression on his face. There were water droplets rolling down his chest almost in slow motion and nothing but a white towel protecting his modesty. There was no doubt that he was physically attractive.

Justin tightly gripped the towel with one hand and pulled the door open wide. He knew she was staring at him and for the first time that he could remember in all his 26 years it made him nervous. He was confident, some would say cocky, and he knew most women appreciated his metabolically blessed form. But Emma's eyes that were rapidly skimming over him, that unnerved him.

He stepped back and gave her room to come inside. "You're here early." he said, but she didn't reply.

Emma couldn't initially speak. Her throat had turned against her and dried up making the formation of words impossible. She knew he was looking at her strangely now, probably wondering what the hell was wrong with her. After a few seconds that seemed like hours she cleared her throat and picked up one of her bags.

"I um..." her eyes darted back to his chest and expertly avoided his eyes. "I thought maybe I could help with Riley..." she stuttered softly. "Maybe."

"Yea... yea. Come in." Justin put some distence between them. "You can leave your bags in the foyer here. I'm going to go get dressed." Justin nodded unneccessarily and Emma nodded back. As if her eyes had a mind of their own, they followed him as he turned around and jogged back upstairs and out of sight.

"Oh my God." She mumbled to herself. "Snap the hell out of it." she shook her head and dragged her bags inside and then she went into the kitchen and sat on one of the stools at the island to wait for Justin. A few minutes later he came into the kitchen fully dressed in a pair of dark khaki cargos and a green t-shirt with a John Deere logo printed on the front. Emma smiled at the shirt.

"I find it hard to believe that you have ever mowed a lawn."

"Haha" Justin laughed. "I have... once."

"Uh huh." Emma laughed too.

"Alright...alright. So you wanna help out?"

"Uh... yes?" She giggled "What do I need to do?"

"Well really I'm packed and Riley is packed we just need to load the car, get something for breakfast and then get to the airport."

"Thats it?"

"Yea." Justin's head bobbed up and down as he nodded. "My crew and the busses are already in New York. They just need me there." He smiled and unconsciously winked. He was just so used to flirting with women that is kind of just happened naturally.

"Well I can make us all something to eat if you wanna load up your car." Emma offered.

"Oh sure make the man do the heavy lifting." He rolled his eyes but smiled. "No that sounds like a plan though. Riley is still sleeping do you mind getting her up and dressed?"

"Sure." Emma agreed.

"Thanks." Justin walked around her and her rubbed her shoulders on his way by and then left the kitchen.

Emma pushed her hands off the counter and stood up. She went up the stairs where Justin was sitting, putting on his sneakers. She got to Riley's room and pushed the door open slowly. She smiled when she saw the little girl curled up under the blankets with a teddy bear clutched in her arms. Slowly and quietly Emma crept accross the room and sat down on the side of the bed. She put her hand on one of Riley's shoulders and moved her lightly.

"Riley... Riley." she whispered. "Riley it's time to wake up."

Slowly Riley's eyes blinked open. "Daddy?" she was looking over Emma's shoulder.

"No Hunny, it's Emma. Remember me?"

"No Daddy!" Her little finger pointed at the door and Emma looked behind her to see Justin leaning against the door frame, a soft smile on his face. He snapped to attention and quickly crossed the floor to pick Riley up.

"Good morning my Little Girl." he grinned and kissed her forehead. Emma sighed softly and a small smile formed, there was no sight quite like the vision of a man and his daughter.

Riley arms wrapped tightly around Justin's neck and she triumpantly kissed his cheek. "G'mornin Daddy." She said.

"Did you say good morning to Emma?" Justin asked.

"G'mornin Emmmaa" Riley smiled brightly at Emma.

"Good morning Riley." Emma stood up in front of Justin and pinched Riley's cheeks playfully making her giggle and try to push Emma's hands away. Justin couldn't resist the smile that formed at the sound and he kissed Riley's forehead again.

"Can you go with Emma and get dressed? Daddy will be back in a couple minutes okay?"

Riley nodded and held out her arms so Emma could reach for her. Justin heard the phone ringing so he ran out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen to answer it while Emma helped Riley go to the bathroom and then get dressed. Then they headed downstairs and Emma heard Justin on the phone.

"Thanks again Mom for taking Scout. I know for sure that I won't be in L.A. until after I go to Europe. I gotta get a passport for Riley and prolly Emma too." Emma heard Justin say. She headed into the kitchen where Justin was leaning backwards against the island with a hand on his hip and the phone up to his ear.

"Yea Mom. Emma is already here, we are getting everything ready to go, are you coming over to say goodbye? Ok I'll see you in a little while. Love you too. Bye." He sighed roughly and hung up the phone.

"My mom is coming over to see us off. I'm gonna go load up the car, it's only eight but we should prolly leave about 10:30. The plane doesn't leave until 1 but sometimes things at the airport take a while and the People article ran this past week and the fans know I'm here."

Emma nodded as if she knew what he was talking about "Do they mob you or something?" she asked.

"Well... usually I have security so it's not that bad. But, I only have Mike so it's a little dangerous. I wanna get there early and get to the gate. With the new security restrictions the fans pretty much get stuck outside so if I get there early enough there won't be that many to deal with."

"Oh." Emma had already put Riley on the floor and she had taken off into the living room. "Okay, well what should I do about breakfast?"

"Um there are some eggs in the fridge and bread in the basket on the counter. I don't have a lot of food here cause I knew I wouldn't be here long. Whatever is left here my mom will take to her house. Eggs and toast are good enough for me and Riley, she doesn't eat much."

"Okay... that sounds good. Frying pan?"

"That drawer over there." Justin pointed in the direction of the oven. "Anything else?"

"No, I can figure it out." Emma smiled and waved him out of the room.

"Cool." Justin quickly scooted out of the room and Emma could hear the door to the garage open and he started pulling her bags through the hall and out into the garage to load them into the back of his black Escalade. A little while later Emma was waiting for the toaster to pop up the slices of bread she'd put in when she heard the front door opened and Lynn wandered into the kitchen.

"Well hello there Dearie, I see he's already gotcha cookin for him." Lynn patted Emma's cheek and smiled. "How're ya doing? Excited to see what tour life is like?"

"Hello Lynn." Emma smiled and pulled the toast out of the toaster and put in on a plate and then set that on the table. Then she went back to the scrambled eggs that were cooking on the stove. "I'm just trying to help out. But, I'm alright. I'm a little nervous, I don't really know what to expect I guess."

"Understandable." Lynn replied. "I remember when Justin was seventeen and the boys were just going out on their first headlining tour here in the states. They toured in Europe and opened for Janet but it was their first tour as a big group ya know. We were loading up the busses and getting ready to start out and he was so nervous. It was so cute." Lynn smiled at her memory just as Justin came into the kitchen to catch the tail end of her story.

"Mo-om." he whined. "Just what are you telling her?" He collapsed into a chair and stared up at his mother.

"Oh nothing bad Dear." Lynn answered.

Justin didn't have time to ask any more questions because all of a sudden they heard a bang and then Riley wailing from the living room. Justin got up and ran out of the room immediately followed by Lynn and Emma and was picking Riley up off the floor before the other two even realized that's where she was. He hugged her to him and whispered calming words as he tried to figure out what happened and also tried to get her to stop crying. "Riley... Sweetie... Riley what happened?" He sat down on the couch with Riley in his lap while Lynn and Emma watched from the doorway.

Riley sniffled and hugged Justin tighter.

"Riley did you fall?" He asked and she nodded against his shoulder. "Did you hit your head?" he asked and his hand reached up and rubbed the back of her head feeling for any bumps but she shook her head no.

"Did you hurt anything?" he asked and she nodded and moved one of her legs. Justin pulled up the bottem of her pant leg and saw a small bruise starting to form. He rubbed her knee where the bruise was and then kissed it softly. "Is that better?" he questioned softly and again she sniffled and nodded against his shoulder. He leaned back a little and kissed the top of her head and then stood up with her still in his arms. Lynn and Emma had long since ducked out of sight and went back into the kitchen, so Justin slowly made his way back in there and tried his best to ignore the tender smiles that both women were giving him. His cheeks pinkened with embarresment but he tried his best to ignore it and he sat down at the table and grabbed a piece of toast. He broke it in half and handed it to Riley who took a small bite and then put it on the table.

"oooook what?" He sighed and looked at his mother who was smiling at him.

"Nothing." Her smile grew.

"Mom." He whined.

"It's just sweet to see you like this. I never imagined what this would be like and it's strange but wonderful to me." She walked over to him and rubbed the top of his head and his eyes closed at the touch.

"Well stop." he chuckled and ducked his head out of her reach and then picked up the piece of toast and handed it back to Riley. She delicately plucked it from his fingers and took another small bite before putting it back down on the table again. "Riley, you have to eat some breakfast." He said and again handed the toast to her, she looked up at him but his eyes narrowed and a very fatherly look crossed his features. It didn't go unnoticed by Lynn and that silly smile reformed.

"Well Dears, you have a safe flight. I have some errands to run but I wanted to say goodbye." Lynn sighed and walked over to Emma and hugged her quickly. Emma was a little caught off-guard by how fast she had been welcomed into this family but she hid it well and returned the hug and then watched Lynn fight back a few tears as she said goodbye to her son and grand-daughter. "This just never gets easier." Lynn said as Justin hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek.

"I know Mom. I love you."

"Oh I love you too. I love you too Riley." Lynn said, kissing the little girl's cheek.

"Love you too Gramma." Riley said and then blew her a kiss.

"Bye Mom." Justin followed her to the front door and stood in the doorway until she had gotten into her car and drove away. Emma couldn't see him from where she was now sitting at the kitchen table but she heard him sniffle before he came back into the kitchen and she wondered if maybe he had let a few tears out but by the time he was sitting down accross the table from her he was smiling and focusing on getting Riley to eat something so she didn't bother to question him.

A couple hours later they were locking up the house and heading off to the airport.