August 21, 2002 (Atlanta, Georgia)

To say that Justin had made up for the poor ending to his and Cathy's last date would be an understatement. In Cathy and everyone else's mind around them, Justin had more than made up for the horrible ending to their previous date.

In fact, he had probably exceeded their date--if that was at all possible--by, during the guy's free time, taking her and sometimes Kayla to the movies, to the park and to the zoo to see the baby Gorillas.

It was just a shame that the tour was going to end in a couple of days 'cause Cathy could've really gotten used to all of the pampering.

Oh well, I guess it's time for one of us to stop playing make believe.

With that thought in mind, Cathy turned towards the left of her where Justin was lying across from her, a sleeping Kayla in between the both of them and smiled slightly as she caught him wide awake watching her. "Whatcha' looking at?"

"Nothin'..." Justin replied back, with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Just wondering what thoughts were swirling around in that pretty little head of yours."

Now, if someone else would've said that comment to Cathy a few months ago, she probably would've rolled her eyes or even chuckled at them a little bit, but because it was Justin who said it, she couldn't help but blush while smiling a little bit deeper.

"Nothing really. I was just thinking about how crazy it is that the tour is going to end in a couple days. I mean, it seems like just yesterday I was helping Leon put my bags under the bus."

"That's because it was just yesterday, silly-willy!" Justin interjected, causing Cathy to playfully hit the laughing man beside her, before outwardly commenting, "You know what I mean. It's just not going to be the same after Friday."

"I mean...Rebecca and Lance are going home to Mississippi for a while, Joey's taking his family to New York to visit his folks and Lance and Chris will probably be up to their ears in business ventures. I don't know how you guys do it--being together every single day and then away from each other for months at a time. I couldn't do it--I don't know how I'm going to do it."

After smiling once again, this time at how attached Cathy had become to both him and the rest of his group-mates, Justin took a second to brush back the hair that was threatening to fall in the older woman's face before replying, "I don't know, I guess it's just something that we all just got used to doing after a while. I mean, it's not like we don't see each other whenever we go back home, we're usually at one another's house every day for some reason or another--if not just because of boredom."

"And the last time I checked, you had nothing to worry about 'cause me and Kayla aren't going anywhere for a while and you have my full permission to come and visit us anytime you like--'cause lord knows, if you don't, me and her will."

After slightly laughing at that comment, Cathy took a second to look down at the little girl between her and Justin; taking a mental picture of the sleeping angel beside them.

I sure am going to miss her, the most, when I'm gone....

With that thought in mind, Cathy figured this would be a better time than any to drop her news to Justin, so she nonchalantly replied: "That's good to hear 'cause that will at least keep me occupied until I move to New York."

"New York....?"

To say you could've heard a pin drop in the room after that last comment was made would've been an understatement. As soon as the words left Cathy and then Justin's mouth, the room was filled with an eerie sort of silence that Cathy quickly opened her mouth to dismiss. "Yeah...New York--I was going to wait and tell you about it after the tour ended, but I might as well get it over with now."

"Remember how I told you while I was out here Robert was going to try and send my resume to a couple of social service agencies around the Orlando area; that way I'd hopefully have a job waiting for me when I got back home?"

After waiting until Justin nodded his head in agreement, Cathy outwardly replied, with a small smile on her face, "Well, one of the companies that I used to do business with, while working for Keith, saw my resume online and said that I'd be perfect for one of their management positions in one of their new offices they just built up in New York. I start next month."

If any part of Cathy had thought that Justin would've been happy for her at this news, that part of her was soon let down as Justin sat up on the bed that they were lying in and hit her with an are you serious look. "So that's it? You're just going to pack up and move to New York without even thinking about it first? You're not even going to consider any of the other offers that you've gotten while you were out here?"

What the hell......?

Not understanding exactly where that had came from and why Justin was getting angry at her all of a sudden caused Cathy to sit up on the bed as well, and while trying not to disturb the sleeping Kayla beside them, she whispered, "I have considered all of the other offers that I received, but this is a managerial position, Justin. Do you know how hard it is to get a job like that in Orlando? I thought you, more than anyone else out here, would be happy for me."

Justin knew she was right, he should have been happy for her, but instead he found himself saying: "How can I be happy for someone who, instead of being patient and waiting for something to come to them, decides to hop on the first thing out of here and run from their problems again. You're just being selfish."

Selfish.....?

Now Cathy had been called a lot of things in her lifetime, but selfish had never been one of them.

"Selfish? If anyone around here is being selfish, it's you, Justin. All my life I've had to fight for everything I've gotten and for the first time in God knows how long, I was offered something because of how hard I worked for it and you wont even let me enjoy it. That's not fair!"

"Well, who said life was fair?" Justin opened his mouth to ask, but knowing that would start another argument, he instead replied: "And you're sure there were no other manger positions you could've taken in Orlando? New York was the only one that was going to hire you for that job?"

Feeling herself start to grow angrier caused Cathy to quickly reply, "Yes! Why is that so hard to believe?"

It's not..Justin inwardly thought to himself, knowing that it wasn't hard to believe at all.

He knew Cathy was great at her job and any agency, including one in New York, would be lucky enough to have her, but if they got her, what would that mean for him?

I've tried the long distance thing once before and that didn't work...what makes me think it'll work this time around?

With that thought in mind, Justin let out a small sigh before saying, "I'm sorry. You're right. I'm not being fair. If this is what you want to do, who am I to stand in your way? I'm happy for you."

What the.....?

Surprised by Justin's quick change in emotion, Cathy opened her mouth to ask him what had changed his mind in the span of two seconds, but before she could get the words out, Justin stood up; causing her to quickly ask where he was going.

"I'll be back. I just need to go clear my head for a second. Can you watch Kayla for me?"

Still not understanding exactly what was going on with Justin caused Cathy to first nod her head, inwardly saying that she would watch the sleeping girl, before looking on as Justin made a move to grab his shoes off the floor and then make his way out the door; leaving her alone, in the room, to sit in confusion.

What the hell just happened here.......?

(Later that night)

"So, then he left? Just like that--and you didn't even try and stop him?"

While tightening her hold around Kayla as she maneuvered her and the little girl into their seats at the guy's show, Cathy sarcastically replied, "What was I supposed to say? No! Don't go, Justin. Stay so we can get in another fight about why you really don't want me going to New York. I don't think that would've helped matters, do you?"

Seeing the older woman's point of view, Rebecca waited until she had slid into her own seat, before continuing with: "Well, I kind of get where he's coming from. I mean, you two have been spending an awful lot of time with one another lately, and whereas New York's not that far away to you, it is when you're raising a baby mostly by yourself. He's probably just afraid of losing you."

"But I'm not going anywhere!" Cathy wanted to scream, but already knowing what the other woman's response was going to be 'caused her not to.

Mentally: no, but physically: yes.

It was a lose-lose situation. Any way you flipped it, someone wasn't going to get what they wanted.

"So, did you two talk about it after he came back?"

"No, by the time he came back from where ever he had gone, it was already time for the guys to get ready for their sound-check so I guess we'll just have to talk about it later on after the show."

"I still don't understand why he became as angry as he did, though. I mean, it's not like we're anything more than friends. I mean, besides during that one date we had a few weeks ago, he hasn't showed me anything else that says he has any other feelings for me, besides friendship."

"True..." Rebecca commented, as the lights above them flickered on and off, telling them that the show was about to start, "But all I know is that I've seen the way he looks at you and I've only ever seen him look at one other person that way before."

"Oh yeah," Cathy absentmindedly replied, while readjusting the headphones on Kayla's ears so that the piercing screams around them wouldn't hurt the child's ear-drums, "And what happened to her?"

"She had Kayla." The younger woman replied, before abruptly ending the conversation just as the lights went down; giving Cathy one more thing to think about in a very short amount of time.

An hour later

"I don't know how she did it, but Kayla managed to fall asleep during that last song, you ready to go?"

Turning away from the guy's performance of Celebrity, Rebecca widened her eyes in surprise as she noticed for the first time that the small girl beside her had indeed fallen asleep even though she was surrounded by a bunch of high pitched adolescents running around her. It must be the head phones. I'm going to have to remember to get me a set of those to wear when I have to sleep on the guy's bus--or at least a pair to wear whenever my mom's around.

With that thought in mind, Rebecca inwardly smiled to herself before asking Cathy if they could stay a few extra minutes, just so she could hear Chris sing Fallen. "He only gets one song to sing lead for. We might as well stay for it, if you don't mind, that is."

Not having anywhere else to go at the moment caused Cathy to outwardly reply that that was fine with her before watching the older male take the stage to sing the one song he had gotten solo for--and that was only because he had written it. Then afterwards she was about to make a move to get up from her seat, along with Rebecca, when something on stage caught her attention.

"This last letter says, "Hey Nsync, I'm a 21 year old single father from Orlando, Florida and I just recently found out that the woman I've fallen in love with is heading to New York next month. And because of selfish reasons of my own, we had a big fight and I pretty much told her I didn't want her to go, so if you could please dedicate this next song to her, I'd really appreciate it, thanks."

"Did he just say what I think he just said?" Cathy outwardly asked no one in particular before moving her eyes towards Justin, who seemed to be looking every where but in the direction of the V.I.P box. "No! Did he really just say what I think he just said?"

You can call me selfish, but all I want is your love
You can call me hopeless, baby, 'cause I'm hopelessly in love
You can call me unperfect, but whose perfect
tell me, what do I gotta do...to prove that I'm the only one for you..

As JC started singing his verse, Cathy couldn't help but continue looking down at Justin and interestingly enough, she soon realized he was looking right back at her; a fact which Rebecca picked up on.

Guess that answers my question...! Looks like someone's in love--and someone else is just too stubborn to admit it yet.