Tuesday, May 14, 2002 (Seven-Thirty Am)

"So, your headed to the compound now?"

Flipping on his left turn signal, Justin waited until he had made it into the other lane before replying, "Yeah, Johnny's still in meeting after meeting to cover up for our missed performances and my lack of exposure. So, this was the only time until next week that he could book us all in."

"Well, then it's a good thing, for all of you, that this will soon be over, right?"

Even though he knew his mother couldn't see him, Justin nodded slightly, before replying: "Yeah, then I'll just have to deal with the stupid press my damn self. Woo-hoo! Lucky me!"

Hearing the slight sigh on the other end, Justin knew his mom was more upset at the fact that he was right about the press than at the small curse word which had just come out of her son's mouth.

"It'll be okay, sweetheart. I'm almost positive Johnny can make sure no one finds out about Kayla until you want them to. And I'm also sure, as the day you were born, that whatever you decide to tell everyone--when they do find out--will eventually end up being the best thing for all of us involved. All right?"

Smiling slightly at his mother's reassuring words, Justin replied: "All right." Afterwards asking her how long it would be until her flight was set to board.

"I don't know. A couple of minutes, I think. I'm just glad to be finally heading back to Orlando. I can't wait to see my good looking son and my-just as beautiful-granddaughter."

Not bothering to hide his smile at the comment, Justin replied that him and Kayla couldn't wait to see his mother as well; figuring that it had been too long since just the three of them had all been in the same house together. The last time being over six months ago when Justin had flown Lynn in for her fortieth birthday.

"So, are you going to be at the airport when I land?" Lynn asked, after a second; snapping Justin out of his slight thoughts by doing so. "Or are you going to try and send Lonnie in your place once again?"

"Mmm, Lonnie will probably be the one waiting for you at Baggage claim. But what I think I'm going to do is have him meet me at Kelly's after the meeting--that's where Kayla is right now--and then from there the three of us will just head over to the airport to pick you up. Does that sound cool to you?"

After making a slight agreement sound over the phone, as if to tell her son: "That's the safest way to go." Lynn replied that the flight attendants were now boarding the plane; which meant that it'd be anytime soon that she could do so as well.

"All right. Well, have a safe flight and I'll see you in a few, okay?" Justin said, in his best fatherly tone; which he only used to use when teasing his mother before she went on vacation with some of her girlfriends. But now it seemed like he was using it almost three times a day when telling Kayla she couldn't do something which could possibly hurt her in the slightest of ways. Damn, I'm becoming more and more like an overprotective father. I can already imagine what will happen when she turns sixteen.

"Don't worry, I will. But just in case..."

Waiting until he had turned down the street--which would put him in front of the compound--Justin replied, "Yeah, Mom?"

"Just in case I don't, I want you to know that--even though I'm sure you've heard this thousands of times before--I am very proud of you. Not just because you're Justin Timberlake of N'sync, but because you have continued to show me day in and day out just how good of a person I set out for you to be. And because of that and so much more, I am not only proud of you, but I am also proud of the fact that I can call you my son. I love you very much, Justin."

Noticing tears start to blur his vision, Justin quickly wiped the corner of his eyes out before replying. "I love you too, Mom."

"You guys ready to begin?"

Knowing that the question was more-so directed towards him than towards any of the other four men at the table, Justin nodded quickly before saying, "Yes, sir!"

A statement which somewhat frightened Johnny; since the older man had realized years ago that when any of the younger men--in front of him--addressed him by anything--but their made up nicknames for him--then it was serious business to be talked about. And there had been enough of that, as of late, to last Johnny a lifetime.

"I'm assuming by this meeting that the four of you have come to an agreement as to what should be done about our remaining tour dates, correct?"

After simultaneously nodding at the question, Joey, JC, Chris, and Lance looked towards the younger male at the table; inwardly reassuring him that they were behind him one hundred percent.

"We have." Justin said, before clearing his throat; giving himself a little bit more time to stall before dropping the bombshell; which him and the rest of the guys knew would, not only, surprise their manager, but also worry him to an enormous degree. "And we've all came to the conclusion that--while these two weeks off have been great--our slight break has gone on long enough. We want to head back on tour."

Before stepping into the conference room, Johnny had pretty much talked himself into believing that the guys, in front of him, would either tell him that they had decided to cancel the rest of the tour. Or worse..that they had decided to go their own separate ways. So, to say that he was surprised at Justin's announcement would be an understatement.

"Are you sure about this? I mean, have you really thought this entire thing through?"

Without even bothering to hesitate, Justin nodded quickly before saying, "All the way, sir. I've even gone as far as asking Cathy, the social worker who was hired to look over Kayla and my situation, if it was indeed possible. Which she replied that it was as long as she, or someone else from her department, could get in touch with me anytime they needed to do a routine inspection."

While raising both eyebrows in surprise, as he allowed his mind to absorb the fact that the younger man--in front of him--had not only thought this situation through but had also contacted his social worker to make sure it was okay, Johnny wondered to himself when it was, and where he had been, when Justin had gone from being a young man who had made an irresponsible mistake to a young man who was dealing with his responsibilities in an adult like manner. Amazing.

After studying the other four men at the table--noticing for the first time in a while just how much of an alliance they were in with their younger group mate--Johnny realized that even if a part of him didn't think it was a good idea for N'sync to go back on tour so soon after Debra's accident, he really didn't have any other choice. Which made his next comment that much more unsurprising. "Okay. When do you guy's want to leave?"

Having thought his manager would at least give them his doubts on the situation, before agreeing to the guy's demands, Justin found himself widening his eyebrows in disbelief before fully letting it all sink in.

"We were hoping to start in Minneapolis, so how about the twenty-eighth?" Lance asked; figuring now that the announcement had been agreed on, he'd go back to being the group's spokesperson, as usual.

Without his schedule even on hand, Johnny pointed out that, given the date the guy's wanted to depart on, the group would be leaving in exactly two weeks; which would fortunately enough give him the right amount of time to promote the tour while also giving the guys enough time to remember the few--if any--dance steps they'd completely forgotten while on their short break. "Seeing as how we've now gotten that huge subject out of the way, is there anything else you guy's would like to cover before I leave to go tell another bunch of suits to fuck off?"

After chuckling in amusement at their manager's behavior, the guys shook their heads one-by-one; each of them inwardly admitting to Johnny that besides the tour announcement, none of them had anything else to discuss with him.

"All right, with that being the last word, I will see you guys here bright and early Monday morning to start with tour rehearsals. Meeting adjourned."

(Two hours later)

After having stayed in her office until around Three A.M. to finish rewriting a few notes that her boss just had to have on his desk by the following afternoon, Cathy decided to take the next morning off and catch up on some much needed rest that she'd been putting off for some time now.

Or, at least that had been the plan until the phone beside her rang; causing her to wake up from her deep slumber just five hours after she'd crawled into bed the night before.

I swear to god, if this is one of Robert's little friends calling, I will personally see to it that he has his testicles ripped off and fed to him for dinner.

With that thought in mind, Cathy extended her right arm, from it's resting place underneath her blanket, and picked up the black cordless phone; which at the moment seemed to be vibrating on it's charger. Afterwards, putting the receiver up to her ear, she shot out in her most bitch like tone of voice: "What?"

After not hearing anything but silence on the other end, Cathy mused to herself that it was probably just a prank caller. But just as she began to put the phone back on it's charger, a familiar voice was heard on the other line; stopping her actions completely. "Umm..is this Cathy? Cathy Jones?"

No, it's her evil stepsister, Laughy Phones. Cathy sarcastically thought to herself. But knowing that the voice--on the other end--sounded a little too familiar to be a Solicitor, she answered back honestly with: "This is she, who may I ask is calling?"

"It's Justin...Justin Timberlake."

As if all of her anger had quickly vanished, after the small introduction, Cathy found herself absentmindedly smirking at the way the younger male had remembered to add his last name; only after a few brief seconds had passed. And they say he's conceited.

"Why hello, Mr. Timberlake. It's so good to hear from you again. I just hope that you aren't offended by me asking what did I do or not do to deserve this lovely phone call at nine o'clock in the morning?"

After a slight pause was heard on the other end, Justin responded with: "Nothing really." A mix between amusement and hesitancy noticeably evident in his voice. "I just needed to ask you a quick question and figured, with the time, that I should try your home number first. If that's okay with you?"

If it wasn't, don't you think I would've hung up on you already? Cathy, once again, sarcastically thought to herself. But knowing that it'd be impolite and also very UN-lady like to do so, she--instead of saying the words out loud--just nodded her head slightly, before asking, in her most professional-like voice: "What's the question?"

As a lengthy pause was heard on the other line, Cathy knew that the younger man was trying to come up with the right words to say. Which somewhat caused her to tense up a little when realization dawned on her--that since Justin and his daughter were such a new case--his question for her could be just about anything.

Just not what she had expected from him in the beginning.

"The other night, you said that when social workers were given a case which involved a Celebrity or an on-the-go parent, the State asks for you to go the extra mile to make sure that the parent or parent's don't necessarily have to stop their personal and professional lives, correct?"

Now having somewhat guessed what the younger man was trying to say, Cathy sit up on her bed; knowing full well that after this conversation she probably wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. "I see you must've been listening, Mr. Timberlake, because that is indeed correct."

"Well, that's good to know." Justin replied; all-the-while ignoring the slight sarcasm which was clearly evident in Cathy's voice, "'Cause I-uh-just got back from a meeting with my manager, a half-n-hour ago, and it looks like in a couple of weeks I'm going to have to be stretching my inspection rights, big time."

Not even needing for him to explain what that comment meant, Cathy smiled genuinely; happy that the younger man had gotten what he wanted. "Well, I guess congratulations are in order. But if you don't mind me asking: besides the fact that I'm probably going to be the one flying out to see you every two weeks, what does this have to do with me?"

Having known that was the exact question he had been waiting for her to ask, Cathy wasn't that surprised when two seconds later Justin had an answer for her. "I know this is probably going to sound very irresponsible of me, but while planning on continuing with the tour, I didn't realize that the people, here in Orlando, who are able to watch Kayla for me--when I need to get outside of the house for a bit--aren't as able to come on tour with us and do so while I work; which is interestingly enough where you step into the picture."

After furrowing her eyebrows in confusion for a second, Cathy found her eyes widening in surprise as the realization--of what he was asking her--finally dawned on her. "Justin, are you trying to ask me if instead of flying out to see you and Kayla every two weeks, if I can just take a slight leave of absence from work and go driving around the country with you and your little singing group?"

"Well, when you put it that way....yeah, I am."

Rolling her eyes slightly, Cathy opened her mouth to tell Justin that his offer wasn't a very good idea. But before the words even had a chance to pass by her tongue, the question as to why it wasn't a good idea came into her head; causing the older woman to think to herself: It's not as if Keith wouldn't let one of the other social workers go if they were in my shoes.....but then again, Keith hasn't yet slept with any of those other social workers, so he really wouldn't want them to be outside of humping distance for a lengthy amount of time, now would he?

Lost in thought, Cathy didn't realize Justin was still waiting for an answer until she heard him call out her name in a confused-like manner, "Miss Jones...are you still there?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Cathy replied that she was indeed still on the phone and that once she had a chance to talk to her boss, Mr. Murphy, she'd call Justin back with word on if she'd be able to go on tour with the group or not. Causing Justin to sigh in relief before replying cheerfully with: "Thanks Cathy. This really means a lot to me."

Smiling slightly, Cathy told the younger male that he didn't need to thank her. Then afterwards smoothly dropped the hint that if she wanted to speak to her boss before he left for lunch then she needed to get off the phone soon in order to be at his office by Eleven.

"All right, that reminds me that I need to get a move on as well. But before I do so, I just want to thank you once again. I mean, if you're able to go, you'll truly be a godsend in me and the rest of the guy's books. I mean that."

Figuring she might as well take this compliment, Cathy told the younger male that it was her pleasure. Then after hanging up, she added inwardly to herself:

Especially if it allows me to get away from Satan for at least a month or two.

Almost an hour after ending her brief conversation with Justin, Cathy found herself practically being pushed into Keith's office by an elderly lady at the front desk. Just one more reason why I stopped hanging around this side of the building.

After making sure the slightly perky secretary was nowhere in sight, Cathy inwardly gave herself a reassuring pep talk before twisting the brass knob on her boss's door and making her way into his spacious, yet cramped, office.

Looks like some things haven't changed. She thought to herself as she noticed Keith situated behind his desk; telephone completely glued to his right ear. "Mr. Murphy?"

Watching as the man in front of her, quickly moved his eye's from the stacks of paper on his desk, to the spot where she was standing, Cathy found herself wanting to roll her eyes in annoyance as he gave her his usual once-over. Pervert.

Placing his left hand over the mouth piece of the phone, Keith stared at Cathy for another second before asking her how she had got in to his office without him being paged.

Stating what she thought was the obvious, Cathy replied nonchalantly that Keith's secretary had told her just to walk in; afterwards--to no surprise of her own--getting in return, the response, "Your going to have to remind me to fire that bitch soon."

Aye, Aye, your majesty.

Looking on with a slightly disgusted expression, Cathy watched as the man--she'd once gone as far as saying she loved--adverted his attention back to his phone call; telling, who she assumed was his wife, how much he couldn't wait to see or better yet, ravish her for lunch. Afterwards, for show, ending the conversation with a sugary sweet high pitched kiss; one which Cathy inwardly admitted to herself was making her quite nauseous.

"Sorry about that." Keith lied; afterwards placing his office phone back on his desk, "You know how my wife can get. But please, enough about her, have a seat."

Knowing this would go much easier if she cooperated with what he said in the beginning, Cathy reluctantly pulled a chair out from underneath her side of the desk, then--after ignoring the brief flirtatious look Keith gave her once she'd fully sat down--she crossed her unusually long legs in a business like manner. One which told the older man, in front of her, that this conversation was going to be strictly professional.

"I'm guessing by the look on your face that you didn't just stop by to say Hello."

In you dreams. Cathy sarcastically thought to herself, before replying: "No, actually I came by to talk to you about the Timberlake situation. It seems that I've run into a slight problem which only you can help me out with."

Raising an amused eyebrow at this, Keith quickly shuffled through a few files on his desk before replying, "Oh really? Don't tell me you're starting to grow feelings for the young man and he doesn't want anything to do with you."

No, but I am starting to grow an attitude and not want anything to do with you.

Knowing full well that she couldn't say that type of comment to her boss without getting some sort of repercussion thrown back at her in return, Cathy instead just shook her head slightly. Then afterwards replied, "Actually, him and the other guys of N'sync have decided to go back on tour in a few weeks and Mr. Timberlake has asked that instead of flying out for inspections every two weeks if I could just go with them instead. Which, after thinking about it for a while, makes a lot of sense to me."

"I bet it does." Keith commented; without so much as a pause. "And it might just be the double espresso I had this morning, talking, but it makes somewhat sense to me as well. In other words, as long as you have your desk cleaned out by Saturday, you are free to leave."

Having figured that Keith would at least give her the full third degree before finally giving her his seal of approval, Cathy couldn't help but widen her eyes in disbelief. "Thank you, sir. But there's really no need to take everything in my office with me. The tour doesn't start for another couple of weeks and I'll be back in less than a month to continue working with my other customers."

Realizing that she hadn't caught on to what he'd been trying to say, Keith shook his head before replying, "I don't think you understand. You'll have to move your stuff out by Saturday, if we want your replacement to have a place to set up by Monday."

"Replacement?" Cathy replied in confusion, before sudden realization dawned on her. "You're firing me?"

Not bothering to hide the amused smirk, which he had displayed on his face, Keith replied nonchalantly, "Mmm, firing is such a harsh word. I'd like to think of it more as getting rid of unwanted space."

Completely outraged, not only by her boss's words, but also by his--as usual--wanna be intimidating attitude, Cathy stood up so that she was glaring down into Keith's gray eyes, before asking: "But why? I mean, I'll only be gone two months tops and I can probably get all of Mr. Timberlake's and most of my other client's paper work done while I'm on the road."

Chuckling at the sight of his ex mistress at her finest, Keith mockingly chanted, "Cathy, Cathy, Cathy. You still don't get it, do you? This has nothing to do with that pop star client of yours or his little wannabe Backstreet boy group. But it does have everything to do with the fact that you're really not that much of use here anymore. And, to be honest, I think it'd be better--for all of us involved--if you just moved on from here and went on to another job. It's quite easier this way."

Having had enough, Cathy gritted through her teeth: "Easier for whom other than you?" Causing Keith to retaliate with, "Everyone around here. They've all come to me complaining about how much you've been slacking off as of late and, to be quite fair, I don't think the company needs to employ someone who isn't up to par just because she's a great lay in bed. It's not right."

Feeling her anger reach it's boiling level, Cathy had to hold back from slapping the man in front of her as she angrily responded to his previous statement with, "I'm not up to par? Well, whose fault is that? You've practically been holding me back every step of the way; waiting for a chance to fire me at any given moment."

Not in the mood to hear the woman in front of him continue to argue her opinion, Keith shrugged nonchalantly before saying, "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. But I guess it's a good thing that starting in a few months you wont have to deal with me anymore, now isn't it?"

Completely frustrated at this point, Cathy opened her mouth to let out a few more sarcastic comments to the slightly cocky man in front of her. But as soon as she came up with the words she wanted to say, she realized it didn't really matter anymore. She was going to be out of a job, come two months from now, and even though--if asked at a later point in time--she wouldn't admit it to anyone else, she knew Keith was right.

This was the best thing for everyone involved. He and the company wouldn't have to deal with her slacking off. And she wouldn't have to deal with his unprofessional behavior bringing her down.

It was a win-win situation any way she viewed it. But still, given the fact that she was now out of a job, it was a sore win for her, as far as she was concerned. I'm sure he doesn't agree with that comment in the least.

Noticing the look of defeat on Cathy's face, the older man slightly smiled to himself; knowing full-well that the woman in front of him--given no other choice--had just ended up siding with him. No but's about it.

"Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way.." Keith began. Not even bothering to hide the amusement from his voice, as he picked up a stack of papers off his desk and handed them to her. "Here's your ending contract. Go over it, sign it, and have it back on my desk by the morning after you return from your little adventure. There's really no reason to read the entire thing, it mostly just states that you're not allowed to give out any information you know about the clients you've worked with, so if you want to just sign it quickly and put it away until you come back, then that'll be just as fine as well."

Staring down at the papers in her hand, Cathy noted to herself that what Keith had just stated--would be in her contract--was common knowledge to anyone. Which meant that if she wanted any chance of finding another job in Social services--when she came back to Orlando--she'd need to find a lawyer to go over the documents really soon. Because Lord knows this sneaky bastard would try and put a clause in my contract which wouldn't allow me to get a job in Orlando for the rest of his or my life. The latter being the one, he'd probably recommend.

"Now, if that is all, Miss Jones, you may take the rest of the day off and come back tomorrow to start cleaning out your things."

Not having anything more to add to the conversation, Cathy nodded her head slightly before making her way towards the office door, closing it on her way out. Then after she had made it across the building and stepped into the comfort of her own office, she finally let out the anger that she'd barely been holding in while standing in front of her, now ex-boss, listening to him read her her faults. "That son of a bitch."

Now feeling slightly better, Cathy took a seat behind her wooden disk, which would soon belong to someone else, and picked up her office phone; hitting number nine to place an outside call before dialing a slightly familiar number.

"Hello..."

Hearing the voicemail click in, before the all too annoying operator on the other line spoke up, Cathy sighed with relief; knowing that it was much easier to lie on a voice mail than directly to another person.

With that thought in mind, Cathy let out a huge sigh before saying, "Hey Justin, it's me, Cathy. Since I got your answering machine, I'm guessing your probably busy with tour preparations. But uh anyway, I was just calling to tell you that my boss loved your idea and was more than willing to give me the time off to help you out on the road with Kayla...said something about a good opportunity for me. But um anywhoo, call me back when you get the chance. Or else I'll see you next Sunday for our weekly inspection....Bye!"

*****