"Daddy, loud!"

After turning off his electric razor, Justin stepped out of the bathroom and looked towards the bed where Kayla was still seated--a slight frown on her face.

"I know it's loud, sweetie. But if I don't shave now, your daddy will be walking around tonight looking like Yogi the bear. And we don't want that, now do we?"

After thinking about it for a second and shrugging her shoulders slightly, Kayla replied: "Like Yo-gee," before turning back towards the television screen in front of her; opting for Cartoon Network over her daddy's brief conversation.

Kids...

Heading back towards the bathroom, Justin made a move to flip the razor back on but stopped when a piercing scream was heard through the room. "What the fuck?"

"Daddy!"

"I know, I know..! A no-no." Justin absentmindedly replied as he quickly threw on his clothes from before and hurriedly made his way to the room's door.

After opening it all the way, he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he noticed JC, Joey, and Lance--whose rooms were across from his--coming out of their rooms with identical looks of confusion on their faces, as well.

"What the heck was that?"

After simultaneously shrugging, the four men stayed where they were standing; waiting for some other sound to occur and two seconds later, they got what they wanted as a loud banging noise was heard two rooms down.

"Sounds like its coming from Cathy's room." Joey replied, causing Justin to immediately grow worried.

"Lance, watch Kayla for me?"

After nodding slightly, as if to say okay, Lance let his door close behind him--as he made his way towards Justin's room--while the other three men made their way towards Cathy's.

Finding the door to the girl's room slightly opened, Justin grew more concerned. So, without even bothering to wait for Mike, who was quickly making his way towards the guys--from the ice machine down the hall--Justin opened the door in front of him only to find Anna pinned to the floor with Cathy on top of her; looking to be practically strangling the life out of the other woman.

"What the hell?"

Not knowing exactly what to do, Justin watched on in shock as Anna reared her neck back and spit in Cathy's face; causing the younger woman to wince slightly before making a move to swing. Fortunately enough, for Anna's sake, JC and Joey--who had both quickly snapped out of their shock--pulled Cathy away from the somewhat bleeding woman before the punch could even graze their back-up dancer's face.

I don't believe this..

With that thought in mind, without even bothering to wait until Anna had fully stood up, Justin outwardly asked: "What the hell is going on?" And after not getting anything besides two out of breath pauses, the younger man turned to his left--meeting Cathy's eyes. "Cat...?"

Without turning her angry glare away from Anna, Cathy heatedly replied: "I came in here to get your movie and caught her on the phone telling one of her little girlfriends how she's the one whose been telling the press about Kayla."

At this comment, Justin quickly turned his now angry eyes on Anna and practically growled: "You did what," causing Anna to dramatically roll her eyes, before haughtily replying: "She's honestly lying. I mean.....you know I wouldn't do anything like that, right Josh?"

With all eyes on him, the oldest man in the room opened his mouth to tell Anna what he really thought. But interestingly enough, before he could do so, Anna interrupted him; knowing her boyfriend wouldn't give her any support at all. "Fuck it...I did it, okay...? Are you happy now?"

"I will be in a second." Cathy remarked, before lunging towards Anna once again. But fortunately being pulled back by JC and Joey before she could do any more heavy damage.

"That's enough, Cathy!" Justin yelled, before getting in between the two women and sternly asking the older woman to calm down; causing Anna to slightly smile and Cathy to look at him in disbelief.

"She puts me and your daughters life in danger and you're telling me to calm down...? Am I the only one seeing something wrong with this?"

Knowing exactly where the older woman was coming from, Justin took another step in front of Cathy--blocking her view from Anna. And then afterwards, calmly whispered: "I know she put yours and Kayla's life in danger and for that I will make it my mission to make her life a living hell. But if you don't hurry up and calm your temper down, you could end up doing something that will make your life a living hell as well. So, I suggest you just take a deep breath and go wait for me back in my room. Kayla's in there with Lance, so you can vent to him about your feelings until I get back there, okay?"

Even though a part of Cathy wanted to stay there and continue going at it with Anna some more, she knew Justin was right. So after a seconds pause, she reluctantly responded back with the word: "Fine..," and then afterwards--while ignoring the smug look on Anna's face--she quietly made her way out of the room; leaving JC, Joey, Justin, and--the now present--Mike to handle the situation, alone.

After waiting until Cathy had fully made her way out of the room, Justin turned his attention back towards the woman standing beside him and braced himself slightly before saying: "I'm not going to stand here and yell at you for what you did, because that wouldn't solve anything.....but can you please just explain to me one thing. And that's why you did what you did?"

Without even a seconds pause, Anna rolled her eyes once more before stating in a bored tone: "Isn't it obvious, Justin.. ? I don't like you. Hell, I can't even stomach you. You think people should just bow down to your ass because you're the Justin Timberlake. Mr. Nsync. But I've got news for you, the world doesn't revolve around you or your nigger 'lovin ass, so just grow up!"

This girl better be so glad that Cathy left because I would make her hit her for that one.

With that thought in mind, Justin tensely replied: "If that's the way you want it," before turning around--causing JC and Joey to look at him in confusion--and make his way out into the hallway; throwing over his shoulder, as an afterthought, to Mike. "I want her gone from this tour by the end of the night...I don't care how you do it or when you do it, just get her off of it by tonight. Got it?"

"With pleasure, J." Mike quickly responded back, before silently watching on as the younger male made his way back down the hallway and towards his hotel room with Anna's racist words still hanging in the air.

Something tells me this is going to be one very long night.

(Midnight)

After quickly changing out of his stage outfit and hopping onto the guy's tour bus--which would take him and the rest of the guys back to the MGM grand hotel, where they'd all be staying for the rest of the weekend--Justin found himself trying to fight sleep as Kenny--the guy's bus driver--carefully made his way down one of the many lit up streets of Vegas.

Must stay awake...

Any other night, Justin would've just let the smooth sounds of the bus's tires--hitting the gravel beneath him--lull him to sleep, but not tonight.

Earlier on after his conversation with Anna, he had been so busy trying to explain what was going on to a confused Lance, that by the time the older man got caught up to what was going on, it was already time for the guys to head to the venue for sound-check; which meant that the conversation that he just knew he was going to have to have with Cathy would have to wait until later on.

Much later on, Justin figured a half-n-hour later, after quickly stepping foot inside his hotel-room only to be greeted by the sight of Cathy lying fast asleep on one of the two queen sized beds; Kayla's small body halfway on top of hers.

I guess we can talk about it in the morning. Justin inwardly thought to himself, before heading towards the bathroom--quietly getting ready for bed--and then afterwards, just as quietly, making his way towards the other bed in the room; hoping not to wake the two women beside him.

"Hey...I didn't hear you come in."

Too late.

While bringing his line of vision back down towards Cathy's face, Justin had to fight with the little bit of light--that they had in the room--to meet the older woman's sleep-filled gaze. "Yeah...you and Kay looked to be knocked out, so I didn't want to disturb you."

Without even bothering to outwardly respond to the comment, Cathy silently watched on as Justin made his way towards the bed she was lying on; taking a seat beside her and Kayla after a small second of thinking about it.

"Rough day, huh?"

With a slight smirk on his face, Justin jokingly replied that she didn't even know the half of it. And then afterwards--while studying the scratch marks that were still on Cathy's cheek, from before--he hesitantly asked: "How's your face?"

A question which caused Cathy to quickly respond back with: "Looks worse than it feels," before absentmindedly turning her attention towards the little girl in her arms and reluctantly continuing with: "I was hoping I'd still be awake when you got back. I wanted to talk to you about before...."

Even though Justin wanted more than anything to just go to sleep right now, he knew that they needed to have this conversation. So, without another word, he mentally told Cathy that he was listening.

All right...here goes nothing.

"After Kayla fell asleep, I spent a couple of hours trying to figure out what I was going to say to you when I saw you again. And the only thing that I came up with is that: I know that I was in the wrong and that I shouldn't have interfered. But after hearing Anna go on and on about how easy it was to leak all the information to the press about Kayla, I just couldn't help but get angry; which, as you can tell, causes me to think irrationally at times...so, with that being said, I apologize for letting my anger get a hold of me."

That wasn't so hard.

Even though Justin knew--from Cathy's silence--that she was waiting for him to either yell at her or accept her apology, he knew he couldn't do either. Instead, after a couple of seconds, he replied: "Apology not accepted." A statement which caused Cathy to look at him in confusion and even more so when he continued with: "Cathy, I didn't want you to apologize....you have no reason to. Anna deserved more than what you did to her and I'm sure that if Rebecca was here, she would have gotten more than what you gave her."

Knowing that Justin was right caused Cathy to slightly smirk at the comment, but then after thinking about what she was smiling at, she quickly responded back with: "Justin, that still doesn't make it--"

"Right..? I know." Justin quietly interrupted, so as not to disturb Kayla. "It doesn't make it right--and I'm not trying to condone violence by saying this--but she deserved what she got. And if you didn't do it, I'm sure you-know-who would have, so don't beat yourself up over it....if anyone should be apologizing, it should be her and we both know that's not going to happen anytime soon, so don't feel bad about it. Hell, none of us, besides maybe JC, do."

Damn...I had almost forgotten about him.

"How's he holding up?"

While letting out a small yawn, Justin tiredly retorted: "C's hurt, but I think he sort of knew that Anna's turning over a new leaf wasn't going to last very long, so he'll live....unlike me, if I don't head to bed soon."

After glancing over at the clock on the night-stand table next to her, Cathy inwardly cursed when seeing that it was going on one in the morning. "Wow, I didn't realize it was that late...you guys have to be up in six hours. So, I better be heading back to my room."

That feat being easier said than done given the fact that Kayla was still lying on top of her.

"A little help here?"

Seeing the problem, Justin slightly chuckled to himself before playfully retorting: "Sorry, no can do! My daughter's gotten into this bad habit that whenever she's moved in her sleep, she wakes up and wont go back to bed until you watch atleast forty-five minutes of Yogi The Bear with her and I'm not up for it tonight; which means you'll be bunking with us."

Any other night, Cathy would've protested the idea and made Justin come up with a way to help get Kayla off of her. But given the fact that she had had a long day and was--at the moment--too tired to even move, she figured what the hell, and simply responded back with a sarcastic: "Thanks."

A comment which Justin was about to jokingly respond back with a sarcastic "Anytime." But interestingly enough before he could do so, he was quickly reminded of the last time that he had heard the woman in front of him thank him.

It had been when Kayla had hurt herself while playing with the other guys on stage and Justin had thanked the older woman for keeping him cool when he thought he was going to go crazy.

And that's not just the first time that she's stopped me from doing that.....she's practically been there for me every step of the way since Debra died.

With that thought in mind, Justin silently began remembering all of those times that Cathy had been there for him in the past.

She was there to give him pointers when he realized that he had no idea how to raise a child. She was there to listen to him vent when everyone in the world wanted to know more about Kayla--and he just wanted to take his baby and go run away and hide. And not only was she there to stop the media from taking pictures of Kayla a couple of months ago outside of his house in Orlando. But she was also there to stand up for him and Kayla when they had all found out that it was Anna who had been causing the media to want to know everything about his daughter these last couple of months.

If anyone should be getting any thanks around here, it should be her, not me.

With that thought in mind, Justin quickly snapped himself out of his thoughts and responded back with: "No...thank you."

A comment which caused Cathy to stare at him in confusion for a second. But then after noticing the genuine look of regard that Justin had in his eyes, she couldn't help but let a small smile take over her face while nonchalantly retorting: "Don't mention it."

The next day (July 7, 2002)

After receiving a phone call from Justin's manager--telling her that Anna wouldn't be filing a lawsuit against her, because of the fact that she was just as much in the wrong as Cathy was--Cathy met up with a very missed Rebecca; who had finally came back from her trip to Mississippi.

"It's so good to have you back."

"It's so good to finally be back."

After helping the younger woman get settled into the hotel room that they'd be sharing--and bringing her up to speed on what had been going on these last couple of days--the two semi-stressed out women made their way towards the hotel's private pool; hoping to get some sort of rest and relaxation before they had to head towards the venue in a few hours for the guy's sound-check.

Which I probably wont even be going to unless I finish Kayla's closing statement by three.

With that thought in mind, Cathy let out a small sigh; one which Rebecca immediately picked up on.

"So, what's up with the long face..? Don't tell me you're still upset about giving Anna a black eye?"

Like hell I am. Cathy inwardly responded back, before shaking her head no; an action which caused the younger woman beside her to ask: "Then what's wrong?"

Should I tell her?

Even though Cathy knew she could just lie and say that nothing was wrong and that she was just tired from not getting enough sleep the night before, the fact that she hoped to continue staying in touch with Rebecca after she left the tour caused Cathy to honestly respond back with: "Next Sunday's my birthday."

"O-kay....?" Not seeing any reason why the older woman should be depressed about that fact caused Rebecca to furrow her eyebrows in confusion while responding back with: "That's great....we'll all be in Orlando then, so we can all go out and celebrate."

Yeah, cause me being out of a job is a great thing to celebrate. Cathy sarcastically thought to herself, before outwardly stating: "It's not such a great thing since Sunday's also my last day working for my job....my boss told me two weeks before I got here that I might as well just clean out my office because once my time here is done, I'll unfortunately be unemployed."

"What...? Why?" Rebecca asked, while sitting up slightly; knowing there was no way she could become relaxed after hearing this.

Knowing that, for personal reasons alone, she couldn't tell the younger woman beside her the real reason he had fired her caused Cathy to hesitantly respond back with: "It's a long story...but all I know is that if I want to even think about getting another job in the same field as I am now, I'll need to find a lawyer to go over my closing contract by the end of this week."

Figuring that once Rebecca heard that information, she would probably say that that sucked and that she hoped Cathy could find a lawyer soon caused Cathy to brace herself for such. But interestingly enough, instead of hearing those words coming from the younger woman's mouth, she was surprised to see a small smile appear on Rebecca's face before hearing her quickly reply: "Well, why didn't you just say so in the beginning....? Follow me!"

Huh?

If anyone would've told her that a half-n-hour after grabbing Kayla's case file and her closing contract from her hotel room, Cathy would be sitting in Lance's hotel room watching on as the younger male went over the files--in question--with a fine toothed comb. She would've told them that they were crazy and should probably go see a shrink. But interestingly enough, that's exactly what her and Rebecca were doing at the moment; watching on as a confused Lance silently went over form after form with a nonchalant expression still on his face.

We're just wasting our time here..he probably can't even read contracts.

As if reading her thoughts, Lance quickly looked up from the page he was viewing and swiftly replied: "Well, after reading this, all I can say is that it was a good thing you didn't sign it."

Or maybe he can..

With that thought in mind, Cathy quickly asked: "Is it that bad?"

A question which caused Lance to let out a slow sigh before tiredly responding back with: "I'm not going to lie to you, Cat...it's worse than that."

Shit.

"Basically your boss has drawn up a contract stating that--because of your supposed inability to work in a professional manner--after you finish this last assignment that you're working on, you are not only fired from the position that you're in. But also prohibited from filling out any applications that the department of social services hands out to you for atleast another two to four years..."

Dammit, I just knew that sneaky bastard would do something like this.

Not wanting Rebecca or Lance to see the anger that was building up inside of her, Cathy calmly replied: "Well, besides not signing the contract, is there anything else I can do to stop this from happening?"

Figuring Cathy would ask that, Lance quickly replied: "There is one thing...you could go to court over it. But the only way you'd win the case--and get him to make another ending contract for you--would be if you could somehow turn the tables on him and make it look like he was the one who was being unprofessional in the workplace, not you....is there anyway you could do that?"

Hell yeah...and I wouldn't even have to lie about it.

With that thought in mind, Cathy quickly replied: "Would me filing a sexual harassment suit do the trick?"

Without even bothering to think about it, Lance slowly nodded his head, as if to say yes, and then afterwards replied: "But only if you have hard-core evidence of it happening--your word against his might not work. You're going to need something more, maybe like a videotape."

I don't even think Keith has video-camera's installed in his office--let alone in our companies building.

While thinking about all those times--after she had called it quits with him--that Keith had made inappropriate gestures to her, Cathy couldn't help but frown at the fact that only one of those gestures could ever hold up in court--and that was the one that no one besides her, Keith, and her brother knew about. Which would mean that I'd have to get up on a stand and talk about it, wouldn't it?

"Cathy?"

After snapping out of her thoughts--only to realize that both Rebecca and Lance were waiting for an answer to Lance's unasked question--Cathy inwardly told herself that she needed to stop hiding behind the truth and then quickly responded back to the younger man's question with: "Well, I don't have any videotapes...but I do happen to know of a good doctor that has a copy of my medical records."

"Huh?"

Seeing the confused looks on both Rebecca and Lance's face caused Cathy to first let out a slow sigh and then afterwards outwardly reply that she might as well start from the beginning.

"About a year and a half ago, after I started working for Mr. Murphy, we began a brief affair...I say brief, because once I found out he was married, I quickly cut it off."

Not wanting to see the shocked expression on Lance and Rebecca's faces caused Cathy to quickly move her line of vision down to the floor as she continued.

"Anyway, about four weeks later, I found out I was six weeks pregnant with his child and after a couple of days of thinking about it, I decided to keep it....unfortuantly though, about two months into my pregnancy, when I finally started showing, Keith--that's my boss--cornered me in my office and asked me if it was his. I told him that it was and he said that I knew what I had to do. I was confused at first, but then he said if I wanted, he would give me the name of the doctor that had performed all of his wife's abortions."

"What an asshole!"

Without even bothering to acknowledge Rebecca's comment, Cathy--as if it happened yesterday--absentmindedly continued with: "I told him that I had planned on keeping it--which lead to this huge argument; one which ended with him saying either I got rid of it or he would get rid of me...unfortunately, I miscarried two weeks later and ever since then he's been trying to find a way to fire me."

"That bastard."

After a couple minutes of silence between the three of them, Lance realized that Cathy wasn't going to go on any further, so he quickly cleared his throat and then hesitantly responded back with: "Well, I think that's more than enough to build a case around--if not one for sexual harassment, then one for wrongful termination...so, if you let me, I'd like to hold on to your contract until we get back to Orlando and then show it to my lawyer when we get back home. Is that all right with you?"

While quickly blinking back the couple of tears that wanted to come down her face--when discussing what happened a year ago--Cathy briefly nodded her head, as if to say yes, and then afterwards silently asked: "So, what should I do until then..? I mean, Keith wants the contract on his desk as soon as my inspections done--which will be as soon as we get to Orlando, Sunday morning."

Having known she'd also ask him that, Lance--without pausing for a second--quickly responded back with: "Going by your contract, it's going to take Steve--my lawyer--a little bit of time to go through it and then come up with a way to handle it. So, my advice for you is to just ask your boss for an extension on this inspection and then come back and tour with us until Steve has had a chance to do some investigative work--he'll probably want to do a criminal background check on your boss to see if anything like this has happened before---which should probably only take a few weeks tops."

"So, basically what you're saying is that she'll be here for the rest of the tour?"

Noticing more than a hint of hopefulness in Rebecca's voice caused Lance to throw a confused look her way while replying: "Probably...the tour ends in six weeks, so that should not only give Steve enough time to build a good case against Cathy's boss. But also give the three of us enough time to find Cathy another job before she steps off this tour."

What..?

Even though Cathy wanted to argue that they didn't have to do that for her; given the fact that Lance was already doing so much for her now--just by showing her contract to his lawyer. Going by the look on both Rebecca and Lance's face, she knew they wouldn't take no for an answer, so instead of protesting, she instead just quickly thanked the both of them for what they were doing for her and then afterwards, outwardly voiced her concern over what to tell Justin.

"I don't really want a lot of people knowing about this aspect of my life, but I think Justin has a right to know that my staying here--for a couple more weeks--is just a way to prolong me getting fired. So, how do you think I should tell him?"

Having known Justin for a long time, Lance knew that his younger tour mate would find someway to blame this one on himself--given the fact that Cathy's boss hadn't found a way to fire her yet until Justin had brought his idea to her. So, with that thought in mind, he quickly responded back with: "For now, don't tell him anything...just let Justin think that you are still inspecting Kayla and that your boss wants you to stay on till the end of the tour so he can get a better feel on the relationship between her and J. Then after Steve goes over everything and talks to you about it, Becca and I will both be more than willing to help you tell him."

Even though Cathy realized this would mean that she'd have to start lying to Justin--something that she really didn't want to do--she knew that the longer she kept this just between her, Rebecca and Lance, the longer it would be before she'd start receiving pity looks from others, besides the two of them. So, with that being her final thought, she reluctantly responded back with: "Okay." And then afterwards--while noticing the digital clock on the bedroom's nightstand--she quickly stood up from her seat and commented that it was already going on three and that she promised she'd watch Kayla for a couple of hours while Justin went and kept an upset JC company.

"But thanks again for helping me out here...it really means a lot to me."

Without even bothering to pause for a second, Lance threw Cathy a genuinely friendly smile while jokingly singing: "That's what friends are for."

An action which caused Rebecca to dramatically roll her eyes while sarcastically mumbling: "Now, you've gone an started an 80's flashback...I hope you're happy."

Even though Lance and Rebecca were now too involved in their usual sparring contest to notice anything else. After silently laughing at the two in front of her, Cathy honestly threw back, "Now, I think I will be, " before making her way out of the room--one last thought still in her head:

God, if those two aren't meant for one another, I don't know who else could be.