(The next day)

You know we don't care at all..let-let me see you up-up against the wall.

What the hell?

I was just doing my thing, hanging out at the spot. You know the place we go, the music's John Blaze hot.

He must've really lost what little common sense he had.

With that thought in mind, Cathy stood up, from her position on the floor, and made her way towards the main living room foyer where Robert, her younger brother, stood; seeming to be lost in thought. He has defiantly lost his mind.

And everybody was feeling the DJ, the Dj, the smoke cleared and I saw this beautiful lady...

Not bothering to wait until the first verse ended, Cathy took two steps foreword, putting herself right next to the taller man, and then--without so much as a pause--she pressed stop on the CD player; causing the younger man to snap out of his thoughts. "Are you crazy?"

After staring at his older sister for a second, Robert absentmindedly moved his hand to above where Cathy's fingers were placed. Then after a seconds pause, he reluctantly took the CD, which he'd been listening to, out of the CD player. "No, but I could ask you the same thing."

While rolling her eyes in annoyance, Cathy let out a deep sigh; which hopefully told Robert not to start with her this early in the morning. Even if he gets the message, lord knows he wont listen.

It had been like this ever since she had came home the previous night, only to find Robert on her bed; ready to break down and confess to her how he really felt about his older sister going on tour with the guys of Nsync. And to say that Cathy and him were now seeing eye to eye with one another, well, that would pretty much be the overstatement of the year. "Do we really have to get into this again?"

"No." Robert began, afterwards adverting his eyes from the CD, he was holding, to stare into Cathy's identical brown eyes, "But since it looks like you're still going tomorrow, I think we need to discuss it once again."

Having had enough already, Cathy let out a low growling noise, in the back of her throat, before throwing her hands up in the air; afterwards bringing them back down to quickly rake her fingers through her slightly tangled hair. "What more is their to discuss? You've stated more than once already that you don't think I should go, for reasons unknown. And while I value your opinion, I've already told you I'm leaving anyway. Case closed."

Before Cathy could turn around and walk back to her room, Robert stopped her by putting a firm hand on her shoulder. "No, the case is not closed, Cathy. We have discussed it, but as you just stated, I haven't given you my reasons for why I don't think you should go. And since time and time again I've let you state your reasons for why I shouldn't do many things before, I think you should shut up for one-second and hear me out, okay?"

Knowing that what her brother was asking of her was the right thing to do, caused Cathy to slightly sigh before saying in an impatient tone, "Fine! But make it quick. I told Mr. Timberlake that I'd be by to pick up Kayla around ten and it's already going on nine forty-five."

"And we wouldn't want to keep the little popstar waiting, now would we?" Robert commented sarcastically, with a slight smirk. But afterwards, seeing that Cathy was about to blow up at him once again, he threw his hands up in surrender, before replying, "Sorry, I'll make it snappy."

"Thank you." Cathy said, before tightly folding her arms together; showing Robert that she was ready to hear what he had to say but--unfortunately enough--wouldn't be changing her mind due to anything he intended to say.

With that in mind, Robert sighed slightly before saying, "The reason why I don't think you should go on this tour is because, believe it or not, I don't want to see you get hurt."

What the..? While feeling her anger start to rise, Cathy, instead of slapping her younger brother in the face, shot him a glare that could've frozen ice, "Wake up and smell the coffee, Robert. We're not little kids anymore and I don't need you to protect me from getting my heart broken. So, stop acting like it's your part time duty."

After realizing that Cathy had taken his comment in a totally different way then he had meant for her to, Robert, once again, held both hands up in surrender.

"Whoa, hold up for a second, Cat. First of all, I know we're not little kids anymore. Believe me, I've seen you with just a towel on and am well aware of that small fact, thank-you-very-much. And second of all, no one ever said anything about a broken heart. I meant before, when stating that I didn't want to see you get hurt, that I don't want to see you get hurt by spending time with your client's daughter, Kayla. Not by you being in another relationship."

While refusing to let her brother see her blush over the small slip-up, Cathy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before asking, "How could I possibly get hurt by spending time with Kayla?" Causing Robert to slightly roll his eyes in annoyance before saying, "Please don't act dumb, Cathy. You and I both know that ever since last year, it's been hard for you to be in the same room with a small child for more than a half-n-hour without thinking about what that slime ball, Keith, put you through. So how you can possible stand there and tell me that it wont hurt you to be locked up for hours with that little girl--knowing that she is not your child--is completely ridiculous to me. I mean, come on, think about it."

I have been thinking about it. Cathy inwardly thought to herself.

She knew Robert was right and that it was going to be like hell on earth to be locked up for hours with Kayla and Justin; knowing that if she'd just been a little bit smarter, she not only would've had a child of her own at the moment, but also could've possibly had another job.

But after spending the majority of the past two days thinking about it, Cathy finally came to the conclusion that if going on the road--and spending time with Kayla--was what she needed to do to not only fulfill her life's goal of being their for a child when they entered a new environment--but also to move on from her past, then that was a risk that she was willing to take. And Robert would just have to deal with it whether he wanted to or not.

Seeing the determined look on his sister's face, Robert opened his mouth once again to argue his point further but immediately cut himself off as the small device on his hip pocket began to vibrate. "Shit."

Saved by the beeper. Taking this as her cue to leave, Cathy, refusing to wait until after Robert had a chance to finish checking to see who was paging him, turned away from the younger man and picked up her purse off the living room table. Afterwards, only getting a chance to grab her keys from the kitchen counter before Robert called out. "Don't think we're done with this conversation."

Which Cathy knew, in her brother's words, meant, "This isn't over until I say it's over."

(Ten-fifteen)

While making her way across Justin's driveway, Cathy couldn't help but inwardly scold herself as she noticed Kayla and Mrs. Timberlake playing in the front yard while Justin absentmindedly finished loading up his truck with his mother's suitcases. "Hey, sorry I'm late."

Looking up from the suitcase he was holding, Justin smiled slightly as he locked eyes with Cathy, before replying, "It's cool. You're actually just on time, this is the last one."

Knowing that he was talking about the suitcase caused Cathy to nod slightly before adverting her attention back towards the front yard, where Lynn, at the moment, was pretending to run from Kayla's giggling figure. "She's an energetic toddler."

After placing his mom's suitcase in the back seat of the truck--with the rest of her things--Justin followed Cathy's line of vision towards his daughter; smiling afterwards as he watched the little girl try to tackle his mother. "Yeah, I have no idea where she gets it from. But if she keeps it up, she's going to be the first toddler on the NFL team."

After laughing slightly, Cathy could only get out an I can imagine before Lynn, hearing the laughter, looked up; spotting the younger woman with her son for the first time.

"Hey! I didn't hear you pull up."

"It's okay, I just got here." Cathy replied; afterwards waiting until Lynn had picked Kayla up and made her way towards her and Justin, before asking: "What time does your flight leave?"

Before Lynn could even get a chance to glance down at her watch, Justin replied, "In an hour and half." Causing Lynn to raise an eyebrow in disbelief before asking, "Whatever happened to my never knowing what day or time it was son?"

Smirking slightly, Justin replied, "He grew up and bought a watch." Causing Lynn to roll her eyes before mumbling sarcastically, "Smart ass." A comment which caused Kayla to interestingly enough glare at Lynn in disapproval. "Grammy say no-no."

After laughing slightly at her granddaughter's words, Lynn apologized to both Kayla and Cathy for her potty mouth--saying that it was a result of spending too much time with Justin.

"Whatever." Justin replied, before turning his attention back towards Cathy, who--up until that point--had been silently watching the interaction between grandmother-father-and child, with a slight look of amusement on her face. They certainly aren't the Brady bunch, are they?

"Well, we better get out of here before the plane leaves. Did you want to stay here while I'm gone or do you want me to pick Kayla up at your apartment when I'm finished?"

Having figured, on the way to Justin's house, that she should use today as sort of a sneak peek on how it would feel like to have Kayla with her when she did everyday--ordinary things--caused Cathy to pause for only a second before saying, "Actually, I still have a couple more things to pick up at the store before we leave tomorrow and I figured I could just bring Kayla along with me while I did so. I mean, if that's okay with you."

From the slight nervous expression--which appeared on Justin's face as soon as she finished her sentence--Cathy knew that the younger man unfortunately didn't think her idea was such a good one. But before he could get the words out, Lynn spoke up; speaking the exact opposite of her son's thoughts.

"I think it's a good idea."

After adverting his eyes away from the slightly older woman, Justin shot his mother a confused look before saying: "You do?" A question which caused Lynn to nod in approval before saying, "As a matter of fact, I do. It not only gives Cathy the chance to kill two mocking birds with one stone but it also gives her and Kayla a chance to get to know one another a little before you guys get on the bus tomorrow morning. I think it's a great idea."

While studying Justin's facial expression, wondering if he was going to agree with his mother's words or not, Cathy couldn't help but furrow her eyebrows; not really knowing what the younger man was thinking as a neutral expression seemed to creep across his face. This is harder than reading Robert's mind sometimes.

After another second's pause, Cathy opened her mouth to withdraw her previous statement but before she could do so, Justin spoke up. "Okay...you can take her to the mall with you."

While letting out a sigh of relief, that she hadn't even known she'd been holding in, Cathy couldn't help but smile slightly at Lynn who, while Justin wasn't watching, winked at her playfully.

I can already tell that I'm going to love this woman.

(Four O'clock)

After dropping his mother off at the airport and then spending close to two hours at the compound, waiting for Johnny to arrive--to no avail--Justin was slightly relieved when he finally got home to find out that Kayla and Cathy hadn't come back yet.

It wasn't that he wasn't worried about his daughter's presence not being around him. But after coming to the conclusion that since no one outside of his parent's and his and Debra's small group of friends knew about Kayla--given the fact that him and Debra had kept her a secret since the day she was born--Justin realized that he really didn't have to pull his hair out with worry; wondering if his daughter was safe or not. And it also helped that even though neither one of them knew it, Justin had asked Lonnie, one of the guy's bodyguards, to follow Cathy and Kayla just to be on the safe side.

I'm going to have to talk to Johnny about getting them their own personal bodyguard once we get on tour.

With that thought in mind, Justin made his way towards his office phone; preparing to call his absent manager once again. But before he even had a chance to pick up the black cordless, his cell phone began to vibrate; telling him he had an incoming call.

Britney? Justin inwardly said to himself as he looked at the number on his caller ID, What the hell does she want?

Having not spoken to his ex-girlfriend since she walked out of his hotel room a month earlier caused Justin to tense up slightly as he answered his phone; figuring that this--sudden out of the blue--phone call could pretty much be about anything. "Hello?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

While furrowing his eyebrows at the greeting, Justin had to wonder to himself for a second what Enquirer B.S was floating around about him at the moment which would cause Britney to call him up with that question. "You're going to have to be a little bit more clearer, Brit. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"First of all, my name's not Brit, Justin. And second of all, you know exactly what I'm talking about, so stop playing games and just tell me the truth."

"I am telling you the truth." Justin practically screamed over the phone; afterwards saying a quick apology.

He tried not to raise his voice at anyone, especially not a female, but when Britney started playing games--like the ones she seemed to be playing right now--he started to get pissed off and couldn't help what came out of his mouth.

"Let's try this again, what are you talking about?" Justin asked, after a second. But before Britney had a chance to answer, the doorbell rang; causing Justin to slightly curse. "Shit."

Figuring that it was probably Cathy and Kayla at the door, Justin quickly told Britney that their was an emergency--and he had to go--but that he'd call her back later on; which she replied whatever to before hanging up the phone; causing him to roll his eyes slightly before mumbling, "Women!"

"Curly, man, open the hell up!"

Making his way towards the front door, Justin couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows in confusion as he heard, not Cathy's voice at the door, but Joey's. What's he doing here?

After opening the door, and seeing a look of panic on the older man's face, Justin quickly realized it wasn't a good reason that Joey had stopped by. "What's wrong? What happened?"

After quickly pushing his way into the house, and locking the door behind him, Joey practically dragged Justin towards the living room foyer.

"Joey, what are you-?"

Before Justin could finish his sentence, Joey let go of Justin's arm and picked up the remote control from Justin's coffee table. "You haven't seen this week's Enquirer, have you?"

What the..? While furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, Justin couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on with his friends. First Britney now Joey.

Fortunately enough, or rather unfortunately enough, Justin soon found out what was going on as Joey flipped the TV on and, first the voice, then the face of John Norris--a news reporter at MTV--filled the screen.

"Well, I'm sure most of you in the audience have already heard about it and I'm sure that some of you, in the audience, can't believe it. But we, at MTV, have just gotten official word from a source in the Nsync camp that group member, Justin Timberlake is indeed the proud father of a bouncing baby one year old."

"What the fuck!"

As soon as the words left Justin's mouth, it was like a shot of pure anger had been inserted into the younger man's blood.

Turning towards the older man beside him, Justin shot him a look that could've frozen hell, "Who did this?"

Having expected this reaction from Justin, but not knowing the answer to the question, caused Joey to shrug. "I don't know. I just found out about it an hour ago and rushed over here as fast I could. Fortunately enough, I made it pass the gate just in time; three camera crew men were parking just as the gates closed."

Camera crew men.. As if he'd just seen a ghost, Justin's face whitened in horror at the mere mention of paparazzi now waiting outside his house. "Oh God!"

Noticing that the anger--that seemed to be generating off of Justin's body a second ago--had suddenly vanished, being replaced by a sudden look of panic, caused Joey to look at his friend in worry, "Justin? Bro, breath. You're turning white."

While tuning out the sound of his friend's voice, Justin quickly ran into the next room, grabbing the cordless from where he'd left it. But before he even had a chance to dial the number he'd put on speed dial, at his mother's request, Joey grabbing the phone and yelling at him to calm down--and tell him who he was calling--caused the younger man to look up at his friend with a look--mixed between anger and panic--before saying: "I'm calling Cathy. She's out there and she has Kayla."

If someone was to say that her day with Kayla was going okay, Cathy would have to tell them that that was an understatement. The day, in her opinion, was going better than okay.

She had been slightly nervous as to what she'd feel after the day's events, given the fact that--like Robert had said earlier--she usually couldn't spend more than a half-n-hour with a small child without thinking of past events. But an hour into her one-on-one time with Kayla, Cathy couldn't help but think that maybe her wish--that this case would hopefully give her enough strength to move on--was coming true.

She felt a lot better about going on the road with Kayla and the guys now than she did before. And that small fact was causing Cathy to smile at the moment.

Well, that was one of the small facts that was causing her to smile at the moment. The other was the adorable girl in the back-seat; who Cathy had realized earlier in the day was really talkative when she wanted to be.

"You sleepy."

After furrowing her eyebrows for a second, Cathy waited until she had moved into her left lane before replying, "Am I sleepy? Not really, sweetie, are you?"

"I tired."

After slightly moving her eyes from the road to the rear view mirror, for a small second, Cathy couldn't help but smile to herself as she watched the little girl behind her yawn dramatically. "I can see that. Well, we'll be home shortly and then you can take a nap, how does that sound?"

"Daddy nap, too."

She's such a daddy's girl. Stealing another look at the girl behind her, Cathy could only smile once again before saying, "I'm sure if you ask him nicely your daddy will take a nap, too."

"Coo."

Turning back to the road ahead of her, Cathy couldn't help but say, "Cool" as well.

After five minutes of silence between the two of them--silence which Cathy noticed Kayla had fallen asleep during--Cathy found herself slightly jumping as her cellphone began ringing. Please let this not be Robert, Keith or..nevermind, just please let this not be Robert or Keith.

Taking one hand off the steering wheel, Cathy quickly picked up her cellphone from the seat beside her before hitting send causing her phone to pick up. "Cathy speaking?"

"Where are you?"

"Well, hello to you, too." Not placing the voice, Cathy looked at her phone's ID and couldn't help but slightly smile as she saw that it was Justin calling. Surprise, Surprise.

"I'm turning onto your street right now, so you can call off the search team."

Not getting anything but a slight curse from the other end caused Cathy to open her mouth and say that she'd just been kidding but as she turned onto Justin's street and saw the scene before her, she realized maybe her joke was more true than ever. What the..?

From what Cathy could see, there were news vans everywhere. On the road, in front of people's driveways, on curbs, even to her surprise, on the sidewalk. They were everywhere. But from what she could tell, they all had one thing in common: they were all surrounding the front of Justin's driveway.

Which only meant one thing.

"Please tell me what I think happened didn't happen and you just robbed a liquor store."

"Can you turn around?"

If Cathy wasn't already growing slightly worried at the moment, the desperation--heard in Justin's voice--would've done the trick.

While looking around to see if their was a space she could make a quick U turn at, Cathy felt her heart rate start to speed up as she realized she was parked in the middle of a road, which only lead to Justin's house, and people were starting to look at her.

"Their are trucks everywhere, I can't turn around."

"Shit."

Hearing Justin's voice grow deeper with half anger and half panic caused Cathy to see the big picture of the situation the younger man was in. Everyone now knows he's been keeping a secret and lying to the world. Now, if the media is as bad as their rep makes them out to be, their going to eat him and Kayla apart until they find out everything they want to know.

"Do you think I should try to hurry up and enter into your gate? I mean, my windows are tinted and your security guard knows my jeep, so-"

Before Cathy could even finish her statement, Justin interrupted her. "No, their fucking savages. One or two of them will make it into the gate behind you, no matter how fast you or Randy go. Just try to back up and go out the same way you came in."

"All right." After making a move to put her phone down, so she could back up unnoticed, Cathy had to stop herself as she looked in her rear view mirror not only to find another news crew pulling up behind her but also to find Kayla waking up as well. "Shit!"

"What?"

While explaining the situation to Justin, Cathy couldn't help but notice six people stepping out of the van behind her and from the looks of things they seemed to be going straight for her car. "These guys, behind us, their coming towards my jeep."

"Whatever you do, don't get out of the car and don't hang up. Joey just called his bodyguard from his phone and Randy and him should be there soon, okay?"

Even though she felt slightly better at this, Cathy couldn't help but feel her stomach start to do flip-flops as the guys from behind suddenly began closing in on her jeep. Why couldn't I have just taken Justin up on his offer to either stay at his place or go back to mine. We wouldn't be in this mess if I had of.

"Hey!"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Cathy looked to the left of her and couldn't help but thank God that she had tinted windows as she realized, not only were the guys from before surrounding her jeep, but they were also now trying to look inside.

Fortunately--and unfortunately--enough, not in the back-seat, but at her.

"Hey, I think the mother is in here!"

While widening her eyes in disbelief as the guy, on the other side of her truck, called the squad of news reporters--at the gate--to come quick, Cathy couldn't help but say in a slightly scared tone, "Justin, their all heading over here."

"Just stay put. Randy will be there soon."

Even though Cathy knew Justin was trying to calm her down, the panic in his voice and the panic she was feeling at the moment, caused her to bite her lip in worry.

Then afterwards scream as the sound of glass breaking was heard from behind.

***