<i>I nailed it :)

duh.

They asked me to speak at a regional conference in Chicago next month.

you're awesome.

What are you doing tonight?

studio. you?

Drinks with a few people I met today.

sounds fun.

I guess. Can't wait until tomorrow :)

Me either. See you then :)</i>

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JC pulled up to the hotel to find Hannah sitting on a bench not far from where he dropped her off two nights prior. He hoped she recognized his car because this hotel was usually swarming with paparazzi and the last thing he wanted to do was get out of the car and deal with that. Thankfully, she did recognize him and he popped the trunk for her.

"Sorry. I would have helped you with your bag, but there are usually paps all over this place."

"Don't worry about it. I can lift my own suitcase." She breathed deeply and leaned against the headrest as JC sped away. "I'm so glad this is over. It was great, but I'm ready to relax. I need a nap."

"I need a nap, too. Is that what's first on our agenda? A nap?"

"Yes please. If you're sure you don't mind." She paused. "Hey, you look snazzy today. Why the suit?"

JC sighed as he merged onto the highway. "I um...I had a meeting with my lawyer."

"Why do you sound guilty of something."

"It was a secret meeting. My manager should have been there. But I didn't tell him about it."

"What's going on? I mean, you don't have to tell me. I'm sure its..."

"I'm trying to get out of my contract with Jive."

"Oh."

"I'm just trying to get a feel for what my options are before I talk to Eric about it."

"Wow, that's a huge deal."

"I know. But I'm kind of at a loss about what to do anymore. Its complicated. Anyway, I'm drained and don't really feel like talking about it anymore."

"No problem."

They sat in silence for the next twenty minutes before Hannah spoke up.

"We look like bankers or something in our matching suits."

JC let out a hearty laugh. "We do, don't we?"

------

After giving Hannah a tour of his home, JC changed into a pair of basketball shorts and a T-shirt and collapsed on top of his king-sized bed. He felt kind of bad that he finally had Hannah at his house and all he wanted to do was sleep. But the feeling was mutual.

"Mind if I join you?" She appeared in the doorway.

Not what he was expecting.

"Um, no. Of course not."

"It feels so good to be out of that suit. It has been far too long since I've been been able to wear shorts. You'll have to ignore my pasty legs though. I'm not much into fake baking." JC scooted out of the center of the bed, and she crawled under the covers on the vacant side of the bed. JC gulped. Shit.

"I just thought this way we could chat before we fall asleep. I don't even know that I'll sleep. I just want to lay here."

"Why are you so tired?"

"I was up pretty late playing the piano in the lounge last night. A melody got stuck in my head and I had to get it out. It was great. I was the only one in there the whole time. Granted it was 3:00 a.m." She laughed.

"Yeah, I know the feeling." JC replied as he crawled under the covers on his side of the bed, making sure to leave a good foot and a half of space between them.

"Thanks for letting me stay here. It is a beautiful home. I've never stayed anywhere this nice. If this is what you're used to, I'm sorry you had to stay in my crappy apartment." She frowned. "Seriously, the whole thing would practically fit in this bedroom."

"You know I don't care about that shit, Hannah. I loved your place. It was so homey and lived in."

"I just feel bad that you had to sleep on my crappy college futon and I get to sleep in this awesome, soft bed."

JC's eyes widened with surprise.

"Don't look so alarmed. I didn't mean to say this bed. Just a bed. As opposed to a thin, hard mattress."

"You can stay in here if you want. I don't mind."

Hannah smiled as she settled into her pillow. "Question."

"Sure, Dwight." JC chuckled.

"What do you consider to be the defining moment of your life? Like, that one moment that just changed everything, and if wasn't for that moment, you wouldn't be where you are today."

JC rolled onto his side to face her. He rested his elbow on his pillow and his head in his hand, his other hand resting on the mattress in front of his chest.

"You ask heavy hitting questions."

"How else are you really going to get to know someone?"

"It is heavy hitting. But its easy. When my parents adopted me." Hannah raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything. She gave him a slight smile to gently urge him on. "I don't talk about it much, so bear with me. My mom used to be a social worker, and she and my dad were practically newlyweds when they decided to take in one of the teens my mom was working with. She spent a summer with them, and not long after she left, she found out she was pregnant. With me. She was only 16, but raised me for five years. There were times we didn't have anywhere to live. We hopped around from one friend to another. Finally she realized I needed something stable, and I needed to be in school, so she contacted my mom. The only person she knew could help."

Hannah slid her right hand into his, and interlocked their fingers, still listening intently.

"My mom and dad adopted me when I was five, even though they already had a three year old, and my mom was pregnant. When I said my mom was incredible, that's pretty much what I was referencing."

Hannah gave his hand a gentle squeeze and her voice was almost a whisper. "I'm honored that you would say I remind you of her."

"I was serious. I see a lot of her in you."

Hannah gripped his hand tighter, scooted a few inches closer and closed her eyes. "Let's take a nap, huh?"

-------

Hannah smiled warmly at JC as he opened his eyes. He was acutely aware of the fact that their fingers were still intertwined.

"What time is it?" He mumbled in a gravelly voice while rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

"One," she chuckled.

"One? In the morning?"

"Um, yeah. Guess we needed more than a nap. It was what? Like 7:00 when we fell asleep? We practically had a full nights sleep."

"Jesus. When did you get up?"

"Like an hour ago. I was just content laying here thinking."

"You should have woken me up."

"You looked too cozy."

"I was very cozy. I just feel bad it is your first night here and we didn't do anything."

"Don't feel bad. I'm on vacation. I was hoping to relax, and I am certainly relaxed."

The air between them was thick. Even though they were only holding hands, the way they were laying felt extremely intimate. They lay in silence for a few minutes looking at each other with lazy smiles. If this kept up, JC was going to have to find a polite way to kick her out of his bed. His body was not agreeing with his decision to play the "just friends" card.

"I know you didn't ask, but I am going to answer a question I think you are too afraid to ask."

He gave her a puzzled look.

"I want to kiss you."

Not what he was expecting. But as she did to him earlier, he silently urged her on.

"I wanted to ever since you said you were willing to help me shovel. It was just so unexpected. I realized just how unaffected and kind you were in that moment. And then - ugh - you sent me that mp3 of your song. Do you know what that does to a girl?"

He loved how honest she was being with him right now, and she was saying everything he wanted to hear. But he wasn't sure how to respond.

"I just wanted to cheer you up," he replied.

"Why?"

"Because I knew you liked the song. And you told me about the shitty time you were having with your brother and I felt bad."

"But you wouldn't re-record a song just to cheer anyone up."

She had him there.

"No."

"No," she whispered back. She broke the grip on their hands and scooted closer to him. She laced her fingers in the short hairs at the base of his head.

"JC, we are so honest about everything else. Why can't we just be honest about this?"

"I don't want to mess it up," he responded quietly. "I always mess it up. Always. And I don't want to do that with you. I can't talk to anyone the way I talk to you. I can't let sex get in the way of that." Her hand traveled from his hair to his cheek. "What about you? If you wanted to kiss me that night why didn't you?"

"I didn't want to get attached. I didn't want to be your 'Minnesota girl.' I certainly didn't want to start anything long distance."

"Then why did you bring it up now?"

"When I was laying here watching you sleep, I just kept thinking about how much I already care about you. I realized I had two options. I could go home and be miserable because all I could think about was how much I missed you and wanted to kiss you. Or, I could go home and all I could think about was how much I missed you and wanted to kiss you again. Both options resulted in me being miserable, so I thought what the hell." Her thumb slid down from his cheek to caress his lips. "And you don't have to worry about sex getting in the way of our friendship."

"I don't?" His tongue brushed her thumb still on his lips as he spoke.

"No. Because its not sex, is it? It's more than that."

He nodded shyly.

And without noticing her move, suddenly their foreheads were touching.

"Jace?" She breathed.

He gulped. "Yeah?"

"We can't go back after this. You know that right? Are you OK with that?"

He answered with a mumbled 'yes' against her lips. She arched into him and slid her hand back into his hair as he slightly parted her lips with his tongue. She briefly brushed her tongue to his before he slid it down to gently to caress her bottom lip. He gently licked her lips for a moment before starting to pull back. As they parted, he caught her bottom lip between his teeth and gave a slight nibble.

She rolled onto her back with a groan.

"Shit. Oh my God. A million times better than I ever imagined."

"I know." He was amazed he could even speak. "Um. Wow. Um." He paused for a good fifteen seconds. "We should probably try to sleep a little longer, huh?"

"Um, yeah."

"You should probably go to your room."

"I probably should."

"Good, because I don't put out before the first date."

Hannah burst out laughing at his comment. It was nice to break the sexual tension that filled them both. "I suppose I don't either." She leaned over and give him a brief kiss on the mouth before she crawled out of bed. "But if you can't sleep, you know where to find me."