It seemed like Justin had barely released the statement when the madness began.  Twenty four hours had passed and they’d both been holed up in their homes ever since—separately.  There were paparazzi camped out all around Justin’s property, all of them waiting to get that money shot—the first one of Justin and his little boy.

No names were released, but Cassidy was still too paranoid to go anywhere.  And seeing Justin was completely out of the question.  He couldn’t leave his house without being tailed and if anyone tried to come to see him, the ruthless photographers were all over it.  Once she was seen with him, her whole life was going to change.

They were both miserable, and spending a lot of time on the phone to each other.  Justin was “working every angle,” he told her, trying to make it so they could see each other—safely. 

It was bad enough just her missing him, but Cody was missing him too.  He didn’t understand why he couldn’t see his “Daddy Justin.”  They’d spent nearly every waking moment with him for the past two weeks and Cody had become very attached to him.  Cassidy tried to explain to Cody that he would be able to see his daddy very soon, but since she couldn’t tell him exactly when, her answers weren’t very satisfying.   He’d let it pass for an hour or two and then he’d start asking again, “Can we go see Daddy Justin now?”

It was breaking her heart.

She’d even tried explaining it to him.  That there were “bad people” that wanted to take pictures of him and that mommy and daddy were trying to keep him safe from those people.  But he didn’t understand and it didn’t help.

They’d talked about Justin sneaking out of his house and trying to make it to hers, but once they figured out where Cassidy lived, things would only become worse and that was the last thing both of them wanted.  Justin decided that he “wasn’t about to draw those fuckers a goddamn map to get to his little boy” and Cassidy agreed.  They’d have to think of something else.

It was about eight thirty in the evening when there was a call from the front gate.  She was instantly nervous.  She switched the TV to the security camera, but she didn’t recognize the car.  It was a Mercedes sedan with very dark windows.  She didn’t think it was someone from the media, but she definitely felt very wary of it.

She went to the call box and pressed the button.  “Can I help you?”

“Cassidy.  It’s Trace.”

“I’m sorry to be annoying, but can you stick your head out the window so I can see you?”

He didn’t question it.   She watched him on the TV as his familiar face peered out the window of his sleek black sedan.

Immediately she let him in, waiting at the door as he pulled up. 

“For future reference,” he said, as he strutted towards her, “don’t wait out in the open.  Even though you saw it was me, you never know.  People will go to drastic lengths to get what they’re looking for.”

She hadn’t thought about that.  “Oh,” she said simply.  He’d put a little bit more fear in her.  As if she wasn’t filled with enough already!

He was right in front of her now.  “I know you’re sort of used to being in the public eye, but that was nothing compared to what you’re going to have to deal with now.  I just want you to be prepared.”

Yeah, if he was trying to scare her, it was definitely working.  “Okay.”

“Can I come in?” he finally asked.

“Oh, yeah.”  She felt completely idiotic, but he’d put so many thoughts in her head, inviting him in had completely escaped her.

She led him inside the house, to the family room where Cody was playing quietly, the shot of the front gate from the security camera still showing silently on the TV.  Cody’s eyes shot up when he heard their footsteps.  “Hi Uncle Trace!” he hopped to his feet with excitement.

Cassidy smirked softly at the thought of how many uncles Cody suddenly had—especially since he hadn’t even had one before.

“Hey little buddy,” Trace grinned wide and kneeled down to meet the little boy.  “I brought something for you.”

“You did?” he asked with bright eyes.

And with that Trace pulled a plastic pterodactyl from behind his back, where it had been hidden under his shirt with one of the wings stuffed in his back pocket.  “That’s from your daddy,” Trace told him.

“Really?” Cody’s grin was wide and sincere.  “Awesome!”

Trace chuckled and patted Cody on the head before he stood up.  “Go play.  Okay, baby?” Cassidy told him.

He didn’t answer, just skipped back to the center of the floor where he’d left his other toys. 

“So, what’s going on?” Cassidy asked.

“Justin wants to meet you at my house,” Trace said.

“Oh, right now?”

“Yeah.  He said to pack for a few days, if you can.”

“If I can?” she asked.  “Where are we going?”

Trace shrugged.  “Some place where the press won’t find you.”

She thought it over in her head for about two seconds before deciding to go along with it.  “Okay.  Can you sit with Cody while I go pack us some clothes?”

“Not a problem,” the man said.

Cassidy had never packed so fast in her life.  She wondered where on Earth they were going.  Where could they go where the paparazzi wouldn’t find them?  Did a place like that actually exist?

She definitely wanted to find out.

Twenty minutes later she’d thrown as much of her and Cody’s stuff as she could fit into one large suitcase, figuring if she forgot anything—which she was sure she did—that she could just buy new if she had to.

Cody was full of questions as Cassidy helped buckle him into the backset of Trace’s car.  He was talking a million words a minute, but Cassidy knew that as soon as they got on the road he was going to totally crash. 

She slid into the passenger seat of Trace’s pricey vehicle and let out a breathy sigh.  “Don’t worry,” Trace told her as he started the car.  “My best friend’s pretty resourceful.  I’m sure he has something up his sleeve to get you guys away from this for at least a few days.”

And Cassidy figured that Trace probably knew exactly what that was.  He just wasn’t telling her.

Sneaking out of his house was not an easy task.  Justin had to think of someone to come and smuggle him out that wouldn’t look like anybody important.   Trace recruited the help of his brother-in-law, Eric, who was also a well-known personal trainer in the area.

Lisa’s older brother arrived in full work-out attire, carrying a bag of equipment, and Justin showed him to the gym—where he turned on every single light and purposely made himself visible through the windows, just in case.  With the way technology had advanced and with how ruthless the industry had become, the paparazzi would go to all lengths available to get pictures—even if it meant climbing a fucking tree or—unfortunately not unheard of—breaking onto someone’s property.

Justin worked out with Eric for about forty-five minutes, talking about this crazy situation he was in the entire time.  Then he made it look like they were moving into an area more out of view—still, just in case someone was watching him.

It pissed him off thoroughly to have to think that way, but he didn’t want to fuck this up.

“Okay,” Justin told Eric, going over it one more time.  “So, I’m going to walk you to the door in this.”  He was referring to his bright white clothing—noticeable clothing.  “You go to your car, open the back door and you realize you forgot your gym bag.  I’ll let you back in.  You go to the gym and grab your stuff.  I’m going to throw on a black hooded sweatshirt and black pants and hop into your backseat while you’re in the house.  You come out and shut the door.  The front door will be locked, don’t worry about that.  Trace is going to come back later and shut off all the lights and set the alarm.  You got it?”

Eric nodded.  He looked a little excited about it, like they were pulling some 007 stealth move, or something.

Justin smirked.  “Okay, let’s do this.”

It went off just like he’d planned it, and it wasn’t long before Justin was laying on the floor in the backseat of Eric’s black Navigator.  When the man climbed into the driver’s seat Justin told him, “Okay, everything’s good.   Don’t say anything because they’ll see your lips moving. Let’s go.”  

The car started moving and he was glad that he wasn’t the type to get carsick, because it was very strange riding on the floor. 

He felt the car straighten once they were on the road and past his steep drive.  He waited about five minutes and then asked, “Does it look like anyone’s following us?”

“It’s hard to say.   Did you want me to go straight to Trace and Lisa’s?”

He did because he was anxious to see Cassidy and Cody, but he didn’t want to take the chance of being followed there.  “I don’t know.  Just do whatever you think is best.”  He was frustrated.   He could not believe he was crouched down in the back of someone’s car, hiding, just so he could leave his fucking house without being followed!

Cassidy had been at Trace’s house for 30 minutes already with no sign of Justin.  Just as she’d expected, Cody had fallen asleep in the car. She’d carried him inside and laid him down in one of Trace’s spare bedrooms.  Their house might be considered small compared to many others in the area, but it was very nice and beautifully decorated.  Trace had given her the quick rundown—4 bedroom/4 bath/kitchen/living room, etc.  Pretty standard.

Now she was sitting in the living room, talking with Trace and his wife Lisa—who Cassidy had seen in several movies and had no idea that she was married to Justin’s best friend. 

The couple’s precious newborn was sleeping in a bassinet about two feet away.

Cassidy wasn’t good with people she didn’t know all that well, especially other women.  She was definitely feeling uncomfortable.  Of course Lisa was nothing but nice, and obviously trying to make her feel more at ease.  But with each minute that Justin didn’t show, she was getting more and more antsy.  Not to mention worried, since she’d been told that Lisa’s brother had gone over almost two hours earlier to rescue him.

Finally their home phone rang and Cassidy was praying that it was them. 

Trace answered and said a total of two words.  “Yeah,” and “okay.”

“They’re pulling up now,” he announced.  “I’m going to open the garage for them in case they were followed.”

Cassidy sighed—thank God. 

“Hopefully they weren’t,” Lisa remarked, standing up and peeking inside the baby’s basinet.   The infant hadn’t made a peep since Cassidy had arrived.

Cassidy nodded and picked up the bottle of water Lisa had given her when she’d first sat down.  She took a rather healthy chug, trying to hide the fact that she was a complete wreck over the whole situation.

When she finally heard Justin’s voice, she calmed instantly, even though it was obvious he was equally as irritated as she was.  “That was fucking ridiculous,” he stated, appearing through a wide doorway.  Then he shot Cassidy a smile—one that seemed to speak a million things.

He beckoned for her and she got up to meet him.  He opened up his arms to her, draped in all black, Cassidy’s mind wandering about what exactly he’d gone through to get there, as she let her body rest against him.  This is what she’d missed more than anything.  She’d missed the comfort of his touch and the security she felt when he was near.

“Our boy asleep?” he asked her softly.

She smiled at the way he’d referred to Cody.  “Yeah. But I’m afraid he’s going to wake up and freak out once he realizes he’s in a strange place.”

“Well, we’re not staying much longer.”

Cassidy leaned back to look him in the eye.  “Where are we going?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t going to be kept in the dark for much longer.

“The airport.”

“Airport?  Is that safe?  Won’t someone see us?”

He shook his head no.  “We’re not taking a commercial flight.  Don’t worry.  Trace is going to drop us off and we’ll only have to walk about ten steps to board the plane.   As long as we’re not followed we should be fine.”

Inhaling deeply, she looked at him a bit skeptically.  “You still didn’t really tell me where we’re going,” she said.

He grinned goofily.  “To spend a little time with my family,” he finally revealed.  “No one will bother us there.  I hope that’s okay.”

The thought instantly made her nervous, but she wasn’t going to put up a fight.  If that’s where they needed to go to have a little peace, then she was all for it.

An hour later they’d boarded a small private jet at Burbank airport.  If someone had got a picture, they hadn’t noticed it.  Of course that was highly likely, but at least they’d be out of town when it hit—if it hit.

Cody stayed awake long enough to be buckled safely into one of the cushy leather seats during take-off.  As soon as the plane was safely in the air, Cassidy reclined his seat so he was more comfortable and he was back to sleep in five minutes flat.   She thanked the heavens above that he was being so easy.  Of course, he’d been very happy to wake up and find his Daddy Justin carrying him earlier.  It had warmed her heart the way he’d curled up to Justin’s shoulder and mumbled something about how much he’d missed him.  The little boy’s actions had affected Justin, too.  She’d watched the emotion in his eyes.  He didn’t have to say a word for her to know.

Now she and Justin sat across the way from their sleeping son, neither speaking a word, but with a million thoughts running through their minds.

Cassidy rested her head against Justin’s shoulder as he curled an arm around her.  Then she let out a quiet breath, closing her eyes for just a moment.  She was tired, but there was no way she’d be able to sleep.

“Tired, baby?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she sighed, letting her weight sink in to him even more as she flattened one palm against his stomach.

“I’m sure my mom will hang out with Cody for awhile tomorrow so we can catch up on our sleep.  I know I won’t be able to sleep until we get there.”

“Yeah, me either.”

“Speaking of my mom…” he continued.  Cassidy was instantly curious, but she was too comfortable to move from her position.  “When I told her we were coming, I told her that you and I are involved now.”

“Involved, huh?” That was one way to put it.

“Well, yeah,” he let out a breath loudly.  “I know that we’ve been trying not to be too affectionate in front of Cody, but I’m going to be honest with you—I really do not want to sleep in separate rooms while we’re there.  And I don’t want to hide the fact that we have feelings for each other, either.  So I think we should talk about this now, before we get there.”

At that she did sit up, looking at him kind of funny.  “Okay…” she remarked with mild confusion.  Where had all this come from?

“I just think that it’s a normal thing, for us to be, you know—”

She shook her head, now she was confused.  “No, I don’t know.  What are you trying to say?”

“Okay,” he shifted, bringing one knee up and turning towards her on the long leather sofa seat.  “I guess I’m trying to say that it should be normal for Cody to see us acting like most mommies and daddies act.  You know what I mean?”

“You mean like if we’d been married all this time, like most normal families, that Cody would obviously see us hugging and kissing and being affectionate with each other.”

“Yes.  Exactly.”

“Well, I agree.  I never said that I didn’t agree with you.”

“Oh…” He said it as if he’d expected to have to talk her into what he was saying.  “So why have we been hiding it all this time?”

Cassidy shrugged.  “I guess I was just afraid of him getting hurt.  But it’s not going to really make a difference, is it?”

“I don’t think so.   It’s not like I’m just some random guy you’re shacking up with.  I’m his father.”

A tiny bit of a grin played at Cassidy’s lips.  Even if Justin hadn’t been Cody’s father, she still didn’t think of him as just some random guy that she was shacking up with.  But she definitely got the point.  “Your point is well taken, Justin.  I don’t think we need to hide our affection from anyone.  Well, except for the press and the paparazzi,” she smirked.

He shook the thought away in an obvious fashion.  “Okay, that brings me to my next topic for discussion.”

Cassidy just looked at him funny.  She was enjoying this rather curious and talky side of Justin and she was wondering what else he was about to throw at her.

“My mom asked where she should set him up to sleep.  Will he be comfortable sleeping in a room by himself or do you want him to sleep in a room with us?   My room is pretty big and it wouldn’t be hard to move a bed in there for him.  I have this little sitting area that’s kind of separate from the bedroom, but not.  It’s hard to explain.  But we could put a bed in there for him and that way he would be with us but not like right next to us.”

He was talking very fast again and Cassidy was smiling very big because of it.

“What?” he asked of her grin.

“You’re funny,” she told him.  “Look, no one needs to go through all that trouble.  How long are we staying anyway?”

“I don’t know.   However long we want.  And it’s not trouble, at all.”

“Well, can we just figure it out when we get there?” she asked.  “My brain is too exhausted to process all these thoughts you’re throwing at me.”

Justin grinned somewhat bashfully.  He realized he was acting like a crazy man, but he just couldn’t help it.  “Okay, just one more thing and then I’ll drop it.  I just need to know this now because I probably won’t be able to ask you later.” 

“Okay…”

“If he’s in our room does that mean no sex?”

She outright laughed at him then.  He wasn’t surprised.  Was it sad that as they approached the 48 hour mark of not having each other that he felt like he was in dire need of it already?

“Of course it does.   Silly question,” he answered when she didn't.

“Justin, you’re thinking way too much about this.  We’ll just play it by ear, okay?”

He nodded and huffed.  He was acting like a crazy man, no doubt.  With another deep breath, he tugged his sweatshirt over his head and laid it on the table in front of them.  Then he laid down on his back and put his head in her lap, looking straight up at her.  

Her hand automatically went to his head, her manicured nails tickling his scalp as her fingers brushed through his short hair.  He let his eyes close briefly, enjoying her heavenly touch.  This is just what he needed. 

After a few moments, he opened his eyes and looked up at her again.  She had this sappy look on her face as she stared down at him.  It made him smile, knowing she was enjoying the moment just as much as he was.   “I missed you,” he told her softly.

“I missed you too.”

Then he added, “I’m horny,” before he had a chance to stop it.

She smirked, scratching the top of his head.  “If you’re thinking of joining the mile high club tonight I’m going to have to disappoint you this time.  Not with Cody on the plane.”

“No,” he said, his eyes closing again, his smile wide.  “I joined that club a long time ago.”

Her touch left his head and instead he felt a swift flick to his ear.  Instantly his eyes popped open again as he grabbed the right side of his head.  “Owe.”

“I didn’t need to know that,” she said.

He grinned and said, “Sorry,” as her hand fell back to his scalp and massaged.  “I think I’m a little delirious because I’m so tired.”

She chuckled softly.  “I forgive you,” she said.

“Good, because I love you.”

Her face lit up as she returned the sentiment.  “I love you too.”  He didn't just hear the words, he felt them.  She’d said it with no hesitation and that pleased him even more than he’d expected.  He was glad they’d got to that point.  Everything about their relationship felt absolutely incredible.

“And I’d much rather be a member of the mile high club with you than anyone else.”

She was giggling still.   “Just close your eyes and go to sleep,” she told him.

“I can’t sleep on a plane.”  But his eyes were closed and he did feel awfully tired.

“We’ll see about that,” she said with a smirk, still stroking his head tenderly.  He breathed deeply and felt extremely relaxed.  Maybe sleep wasn’t so far off after all.  Maybe nothing was too far off, when she was involved. 

© BrandyRae 2005