"Dorian. Randall. Come in here and eat breakfast," McKayla Malone-Timberlake finished pouring the last of the milk into the two bowls of cereal on the table.

Her answer was a childs loud giggle and Justin's voice simulating a plane crash.

"Randall, bring that boy in here. We're all ready running late."

"It's impossible for us to be running late. It's Challenge," Justin bounced into the room with one little leg on each shoulder and two small hands on his face.

"And even Challenge has a schedule. I thought you guys were getting dressed," McKayla pulled the little boy from Justin's shoulders and set him in his high chair.

"We were, but then we found his battleship-cruiser game under the bed. The one you convinced us you left at the house," he pointed an accusing finger at her.

"You got me Randall, I was trying to seperate you two from your beloved game."

"I knew it," Justin sat down next to his son and picked up his spoon. Dorian sat next to him, mouth slightly open as he watched his Dad shovel spoon-after-spoonful into his mouth.

"Dorian-baby eat up. Justin help your son," McKayla didn't bother to look up from the tray she was quickly snacking off of. She could tell by the lack of loud clanking and laughter that her son wasn't eating.

"You talkin' to mah?"

McKayla and Justin both paused and looked over at the little boy with kinky curls springing out in every direction. McKayla's mouth fell open while Justin cracked a smile. She was torn between wanted to chew him out for saying something like that to Mommy, although she could clearly see Justin's influence. But part of her wanted to laugh because him saying that in his cute little baby voice was too adorible.

"Yes, I'm talking to you little man. Eat up," she kissed his forehead on her way passed the table.

Justin leaned up and puckered his lips, expecting his own kiss. Instead he recieved a smack on the back of the head.

"Stop watching old gangster movies with my son."

The man laughed to himself as McKayla wandered into the other room.

"That's my boy. Gimme five right here."

In the other room, McKayla gathered together her outfit for the day: a long peach colored tank and green cargo capris, before heading into the bathroom to take a shower. Someone would come knocking at the door within the next half an hour to take them out to cars and over to the venue.

They were at Challenge For The Children VI, in Miami, Fl. The weekend had started off nice enough. Justin had been in England for some promotional stuff, and she had been doing some work on the West coast, and they met up here. She'd recently returned to work, since Dorian was old enough to travel. The little boy had celebrated his first birthday the month before. He was well advanced for his age, talking at six months old and walking at nine months. McKayla liked to claim that that came from her side of the family gene pool. She and Justin had been married for more than four years now, which meant they'd known eachother for... about four years now. But everything seemed to get better with time. The sting from Athena's death had faded, along with the bad memories from their first six months together. Now they were every bit the young, in love, new parents that their PR had always claimed them to be.

McKayla stepped onto the cold bathroom tile and closed the door behind herself, stripping down into nothing and turned on the shower. As the water heated up and steam filled the room, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked the same, generally. She'd kept the copper color of her hairstyle from when she was pregnant, but she'd let it grow down to her shoulders, and had recently got it braided so she wouldn't have to worry about it. It was enough work running after her one year old son and overgrown two year old of a husband. But her face had grown older, filled out a little from the pregnancy. She'd gotten a little taller, oddly enough. Lots of little things had changed about her, things usually only she noticed. Justin would pick up on something once in awhile, but usually she was the only one who knew.

Her hands had changed, for example. Justin didn't notice, but she had. Her fingers seemed longer. They seemed to have increased strength and power. Four years ago she'd only held a mic with these hands. Now she held a mic, caressed a lover, and protected a child with these hands.

"Mommy!" a little fist hit the door.

"Mommy's in the shower Romeo. Come on, let's see if we can get the train to make one more stop before we get dressed, okay?"

The train was the spoon, and the stop was Dorian's stomach, meaning Justin wasn't being completely successful at getting Dorian to eat breakfast. Romeo was a nickname Justin had given him. He was convinced that, "... anyone with McKayla's brain and my good looks," was going to be a world famous heartbreaker. McKayla wasn't elated that her son was nicknamed after a bratty 13-year old that killed himself because he couldn't be with his child-bride.

"Ah Mommy?"

"Mommy will be back. Come on."

She smiled as she pictured Justin leading him away by the hand. She'd given birth to a miniture version of him. Dorian had her brown eyes, but Justin's nose and curls, though they were jet black like McKayla's hair. He had a flawless tan complexion, and freckless on his shoulders like his Dad. He was a sneeky little smarty-pants, with a love of basketball and race cars. Justin was his hero, and they frequently dressed in matching outfits. They had a secret little code that was all their own, and it was really quite adorible. But Dorian was a Mama's boy at heart. He followed McKayla regularly, and loved to be carried around. He had to know where she was at all times, and loved being read stories and sung to sleep.He'd also become a good little 'attack child', with a lot of coaching from Justin.

"Kay! Are you almost done in there? Dorian's head is stuck in his sleeve."

McKayla rolled her eyes as she pulled the curtain closed. She didn't have time to stand in the mirror daydreaming, there was always some 'emergency' going on.

"Explain to me why we're up here again?" Eric followed closely behind McKayla as she made her way down the concrete steps in the arena.

"Because, I like coming up here with the fans. I wanna see it how they see it," she adjusted Dorian in her arms and continued on her way down the isle to the guardrail at the bottom.

The CFTC basketball game hadn't begun yet, but the teams were out on the court, and all the fans were anxiously waiting in their seats for one of the guys to do something adorible. Every time she attended this event with Justin she wandered around with the fans, trying her best to blend in. She liked to let the spotlight shine on he and the guys instead of being a part of it. This year however, it was a little bit harder. Some photos of Dorian had been leaked, and the fans were well aware of what he looked like. Justin had demanded that security be on high alert whenever his son was around, the last thing they needed was some crazy psychotic person kidnapped his baby. Dorian didn't exactly help keep himself undercover. The day before at the skillz game he stripped himself down to his diaper and ran out in the game looking for his Uncle Chris. Now he was cheesing and waving at the fans they passed.

"Couldn't you see it how they see it from say, a private booth up top?"

"Eric, Eric, Eric, ever the worrier. Chill out."

"I can't help it. It's my job."

"And you do it very well. Now chill out."

"Excuse me," a new voice entered the picture. McKayla and Eric turned to find two young women, probably 19 or so, standing behind them, "Are you Mrs. Timberlake?"

McKayla pulled her baseball cap lower on her head, not that it was helping any.

"Yes, I am."

"Can we get your autograph? We just love you."

McKayla gave them a gracious smile as she excepted the slip of paper and pen the girls offered to her.

"Sure. Are you guys enjoying Challenge so far?" McKayla tried to make light conversation while juggling the paper and Dorian.

"We are. It's our first year here, and it's so awesome. We can't wait to come back next year."

"Glad to hear it. Maybe I'll see you there," she handed the paper back and tightened her hold on her son. She could feel the restlessness pulsing through his little body as he began to suck on one of her braids.

"Hopefully! Could you do us a super huge favor and tell Justin Jodie and Krista said 'hi'? We'd reeeally appreciate it, we love him so much."

"I'll be sure to do so."

"Thank you so much. We think you guys are so cute together, and your son is so adorible," McKayla could tell one of the girls wanted to reach out and tell him, but the glare of the security guard standing behind her told her it wasn't the smartest idea.

"Thank you. We appreciate that," she gave them her best toothy grin and they giggled before beginning to turn away.

"It was nice meeting you."

"You too."

After the girls retreated back to their seats, several rows up, McKayla turned to eye her bodyguard.

"See, we're perfectly safe."

"Yeah. Just because those two were nice enough must mean the other 20,000 people here are sweet as pie too."

"Mommy, un ah Daddy?" Dorian pulled on her hair to get her attention as the buzzer sounded and the announcer began named off the starting players.

"Daddy's down there playing the game. See him?" she pointed out her husband on the court as he stole the ball from someone and half the crowd began cheering.

"Ah Daddy."

That was Dorian for, "I want my Daddy."

"Daddy's playing a game."

"Ah Daddy," he said more sternly, kicking one of his legs.

McKayla stared back at her son's big brown eyes, "Daddy's playing a game. We have to wait till he's done. You'll see him soon."

"Ah Daddy!"

"Dorian Austin..." she began quietly. The little boy immediately quieted down. He knew when his first and middle names were used he was in trouble, and Daddy wasn't here to intervine.

"...You know better than to act like that, now are you going to be a good boy?"

Dorian cut his eyes at her and looked out on to the court.

"Good boy," she kissed his cheek before continuing towards the guardrail. Rather than walk back up the stairs and all the way around to the actual enterance onto the sidelines, she opted to hop over the railing and join the fans sitting in the folding metal chairs on the side. Now that was back within the 'security cirlce' Eric wandered off to find something to drink and a working walkie-talkie so he stay in the buzz of what was going on during the event.

"McKayla!"

She turned extinctively when she heard her name and smiled as Kelly Fatone sauntered up to her, "Guess what the rumors are this year?"

"What?" McKayla set Dorian down on his feet and opted to hold onto his little hand.

"Chris and Justin want to kill eachother."

"Old news."

"Yeah, but it's still floating around. The big one is about you and me though."

"Really? Do tell."

"You are having an affair with Joey, and I'm hooking up with Justin on the side to get back at you."

McKayla's jaw fell open before she laughed loudly, "Who knew we were such fun?"

"Not me!"

"Where do they come up with this stuff every year?"

"I don't know. I heard it by the elevators while I was fan-scouting."

Kelly was a master at blending in with the crowd. A baseball cap easily covered her face, and she was only two feet off the ground as it was so it was easy to walk right past her. Over the years she and other 'girlfriends' had developed a game of seeing who could get the best fan gossip. Winner got to buy the others a round at the bar.

"No offense sweetheart, but if I had my pick of the guys-."

"I'd stick with Justin too," Kelly nodded, taking a sip from her plastic cup.

"Actually I was gonna say I'd beat you all down for JC, but Justin works too."

Kelly giggled and nudged her friend on the arm, "You're bad. I'm telling him you said that."

"Tell him. I can take him, atleast I'll be able too after the game with the way he's running up and down this court."

"Tell me about it. I'm hoping they'll put Joey in for a while, that way he'll go back to the hotel and pass out instead of going to the Championship party."

"Jesus, I forgot all about the party," McKayla ran a hand through her hair and the crowd cheered as someone scored a basket. Between the noise and the conversation, she didn't feel the tiny hand slip from her fingers.

"It's supposed to be a doozy this year."

"I'll bet, with the way Melinda plans them."

Kelly giggled again, and it became apparent that this wasn't her first plastic cup of the day.

"Where's Brianna?"

"Over there with Joey's Dad," she pointed in the right direction, "Oh! Speaking of children, I didn't get to tell you the best part yet."

"Which is?"

"Dorian Austin, is really Joey's."

McKayla couldn't help but laugh in the woman's face, and immediately covered her mouth once she got a hold of herself. Her mouth had been open so wide the shorter woman had probably seen her tonsils.

"Dorian is Joey's kid?"

"Yeah. That's why he's got dark hair, you know Joey's a brunette."

"Yeah, it couldn't possibly be because his Mother's Black? No way."

Kelly shrugged.

"So what's your reaction to my having your husband's baby?"

"Oh, I tried to kick your butt last night and got thrown out of the hotel. Justin screwed the resturant hostess."

"Well, atleast I won the fight and the hostess was pretty. I'd hate to get thrown over for a Big Bird look-a-like."

"That's what I said. If my Joe's gonna fool around, atleast we know he'll have cute, illegitamate kids."

"Thanks, I think. Actually, I think those are fighting words."

"Well remember, you are sleeping with my Joey. I'm allowed to get one good lick in."

McKayla shook her head, "Crazy. This is just craziness."

"Speaking of craziness," Kelly motioned out to the court.

McKayla turned, expecting to see Justin leading the pack back down the court, dribbling the ball. Or Chris breaking dancing on the Challenge For The Children logo, not her son running down the middle towards his Dad.

"Not again. Dorian!" she started to run out after him, but a camera man jumped infront of her, throwing her off her balance. She fell into Kelly, who fell to the floor.

She heard alot of yelling, and what sounded like people fallin into eachother, before she was able to stand up and get a good view. Four of the Knights and three of the Daze were laying on the floor, and Dorian was smiling brightly from his position high off the ground away from the commotion in his Dad's arms. Justin was holding the little boy close to his chest, probably having scooped him up on his way by before some of the other bigger players could step on him. His blue eyes looked around until they finally landed on her, and McKayla picked up on the way Justin suttlely shook his head at her. She was always getting on him for being so 'carefree with the safety of their child'. She'd never hear the end of this, that was the third time he'd gotten away from her this weekend and it was only Saturday.

"Is it me or does this scene look familiar?"

"Yesturday at the Skillz game. When he ran out into the middle of the relay race."

"Ah, that's right."

"Yeah. I gave birth to the real life Kevin McCallister."

"Kevin Mc-who?"

"Home Alone? McCullay Culkin?"

"Right. Got cha."

The audience let out a collective 'awww' and the conversation between the two women paused again as they looked out onto the court. Dorian had removed his jean jacket before running out on to the court, revealing the little Daze basketball uniform he wore underneath. The back of Justin's jersey said 'Me', and the back of Dorian's jersey read 'Mini Me'. McKayla opted to wear a black CFTC t-shirt and jeans.

Pat O'Brien annoucing that Justin would be coming off the court so the game could continue and she knew that was her que.

"Let me go retrieve my child and talk to my husband. I'll see you later," she patted Kelly's arm before she began the long walk around the court to the other side.

"See ya."

By the time McKayla got to the sideline, Justin was standing infront of his chair, talking to a team mate. She'd gotten temporarily sidetrack when a group of girls leaned over their railing and asked for her autograph. When she reached him, Justin picked up his towel and shook it at her before wrapping it around his neck to catch the sweat.

"Bad Mommy."

"I'm sorry. He slipped away."

"Again?"

"Well, he's a slippery little kid."

He gave her a look as he switched Dorian to his other hip, "The next time I wanna strap him to the vaccum cleaner and role him around while I'm cleaning, you can't say one word."

Justin's dangerously, yet strangely fun antics with their child had long sense been the topic of some heated debates.

"Doing that and him slipping away from me in here are two completely different things."

"Are you kidding? Look at the all the people in here. Me strapping him to something at our home is way less dangerous than you losing him here."

"Okay, I get the message Dad. I'm sorry, all right?"

He looked her over before nodding, "Where's Eric anyway?" he motioned for her to come closer as he started moving some towels off the chair next to him.

"Off doing bodyguard stuff."

"Well when he gets back tell him he's fired."

McKayla giggled. Justin fired Eric atleast once a week. When she got close enough Justin put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a kiss, his way of silently apologizing for snapping at her. As they shared baby kisses, Dorian playing in her hair, she could feel the daggers being shot at her back by the eyes of the onlookers. They had been married for four years, but that didn't mean all NSYNC fans were comfortable with it. Hell, that day would never come when they would all be okay with it, but it helped when the supportive fans did voice their opinion, like the two girls who had stopped her on the stairs.

"Have a seat Ma, take a load off," he nudged her into a chair before sitting next to her with Dorian in his lap.

The game continued on somewhat uneventfully. Justin and Dorian attracted a large amount of media attention when they decided to play Airplane Ride up and down the sidelines. McKayla had fun when Joey ran for the ball and ended up falling into her lap instead. Rather than apologise he asked her to run away with him. She excepted, ofcourse. During the halftime dance contest Dorian spontaniously entered himself and began bouncing up and down, almost to the beat. But by the time 6pm rolled around everyone was ready to head back to the hotel for some food and relaxation.

That however was easier said that done.

"Keep a hold of Romeo this time."

"Shut up Randall."

"I'm just warning you."

"Why don't you just bite me."

"Love too."

Eric smiled. They were arguing, it was what they did best. And it was a sure fire way to tell that everything was normal between them. The Official CFTC car pulled up in front of the hotel and the fans began to scream and push they way closer, trying to get a glimpse of what celebrity was inside. The door opened and Justin stepped out first, somewhat clearing a path for McKayla and Dorian who got out after them. It was a short walk up the stairs to the hotel doors but it took longer since they would periodically stop to sign autographs and wait for people to be pushed back out of the way.

Finally they reached the doors and once inside the noise level dropped considerably. Justin paused at the doors, waiting for McKayla to catch up. Once she was close enough he reached for her hand and pulled her along. Dorian clung to her body and kept his face buried in her neck the way he taught inorder to limit the number of pictures people took of it. They were useless to sell to the papers if they didn't have his face. A small group of fans stood along the wall to the elevators with the cameras, quietly waiting for the couple to get close enough for them to ask for pictures and autographs.

"Hi Justin," they said almost simultaniously. If he stopped to say 'hello' back, then they'd move in for the kill. But he didn't, he meerly nodded and flashed a smile in their direction.

"Hi McKayla," they said.

"Hi girls," she paused.

Justin jerked her hand to get her moving again, but it was too late. The girls were moving in, asking for pictures and autographs, and trying to sneek pictures of Dorian. Eric moved to stand next to her, and asked her quietly if she wanted to sign autographs.

"Not for everyone," was her reply. She could feel the tension moving through Dorian's body. He was uneasy about large numbers of people because in the past all they'd ever done was push and pull on his parents and scream in their faces.

"Ladies, ladies, can you step back please. Give her some room."

As Eric went to work, Justin moved in to pull his son out of harms way. He easily lifted him from McKayla's arms, and stood next to her almost protectively. As McKaylas signed programs and smiled for photos Justin answered questions and had mini-conversations, explaining that he couldn't sign autographs because he was holding his boy.

"McKayla signed mine while she was holding him."

"Women are better at mulit-tasking then men are."

Finally her hand started to get a little tired and Eric told the group that was all for the moment. Plus, the next Official Car was pulling up and the Timberlakes needed to be on an elevator and out of the way. Once again Justin intertwined her hands with his and pulled her along behind him. They got in the habit of walking like this when she was pregnant. Magazines analyzed it and said it was instinctual on his part. The testosteron filled part of him was subconciously doing his duty of protecting his unborn baby and the women who carried it.

"Did you have to sign all those autographs?" he was being cranky because he hadn't gotten a chance to finished breakfast before they left.

"I'm sorry. They asked nicely, I didn't wanna say 'no' to their faces."

He grumbled to himself and set Dorian on the floor when the elevator dinged. The little boy took off running, as fast a one-year old could run, towards Chris's open hotelroom door.

"Hey little man! How's my favorite sidekick?" Chris scooped him up and swung him around.

"Reeeeeeeeeeeeeey!" was his responce.

"Good. Ready to go fight some crime?"

Dorian blew a spit bubble.

"Let's go," Chris put the little boy on his shoulders and ran off down the hall towards an unsuspecting Lance.

McKayla smiled at the scene unfolding infront of her before she was jerked off in the opposite direction. Apparently Justin forgot he was holding onto her. She watched him stalk into their room and straight into the bathroom where he began splashing water on his face.

McKayla moved farther into the room and slipped off her flip-flops. No sooner had she done that did a wet head lay itself on her shoulder and moist lips being attacking her neck.

"What are you doing?" she reached up to pull a wet curl, a mixture of water and sweat.

"I've got an idea," he began pulling her over to the sofa, "Why don't we leave Romeo with JC-."

"JC? Watch Dorian? You do remember his reaction when Brianna threw up breastmilk on his shirt don't you?"

"He was completely back to normal two days later. And that fire didn't leave any marks and only did a couple hundred dollars worth of damage. Plus that can't happen cause our kids winged off the boob, finally," he reached for her chest and she slapped his hand away. Instead he opted to pull her to straddle his lap.

"Stop that. Not JC."

"Okay, Lance."

"Lance who is probably kicking Dorian and Chris out of his room right now because he had a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead hiding in there?"

"It's three women. They have maternal instincts."

"Justin..."

Being called Justin wasn't usually a good sign. It heavily depended on how she said it. That Justin, wasn't a good sign.

"Fine. We'll leave the rugrat with someone-."

"Someone? I'm not leaving my son with someone."

"Woman...." Justin let out a loud sigh and dropped his head back on the couch.

McKayla giggled at him and moved to nuzzle his neck with her nose, "Sorry Randy. Go ahead, tell me your idea."

"Thank you. Now, we lose the rugrat, then Mommy and Daddy play with some balls of their own, and make another one," his hands slipped under her t-shirt and up her back.

"Another one? You must be kidding."

"No."

"We just had a baby."

"Yeah, a year ago."

"And you're all ready trying to pass it off to someone, and you want another one."

"Well we could atleast start practicing. Practice makes-," his hands moved higher, pulling her shirt up her torso along with it, and his lips moved to her neck again.

"Makes perfect. I know. You've used that line before."

"And it worked."

"I dunno... I still say I was drugged."

"You were. That was my backup plan."

"Funny."

"Kay...."

"Randall I don't think you thought this plan through," she was trying her best not to give into the way his tongue felt on her collarbone.

"I thought through the important parts. Kid gone. You, me, bed."

"You need a little more detail than that."

"You, me, red panties, bed."

"Justin...." That Justin, was a good sign. Her voice was light and airy, almost like a whisper.

"McKayla, stop it."

"I'm not-."

"What does your shirt say?" he pulled away from her so they could read it. He could tell this plan was going to work when she looked down at it, her face contorted with confusion.

"Are you up for The Challenge?"

"Oh yeah I'm up for it. Up, ready, willing, and able," he playfully tossed her on the couch next to him before lunging at her with a growl.

"Finally," McKayla breath when the bathroom door opened, followed by a cloud of steam.

"What?" Justin asked, one hand holding the towel tied around his slender hips.

"You were only in there for like an hour. I have to shower and get dressed for the party tonight and still you have to go get Dorian from Chris and get him fed and put to bed."

"You didn't go get Dorian yet?"

"No. I didn't wanna get dressed again without showering first."

"You could've just taken off whatever you wore once you got back. You'd only have it on for 5 minutes."

"But in that five minutes I'd have wasted an outfit. I smell like your sweat," she moved past him and into the bathroom.

"Oh like you don't do enough shopping to-."

"Don't you start with me Justin Randall," she yelled through the door.

McKayla disrobed and turned the water back on, surprised that there was any hot water left. The room was still foggy, and everything was wet. Usually she showered before him, because when things were wet and messy like this she still felt dirty after she showered, and he didn't really care. But this time he'd jumped up before she did and ran in, locking the door behind himself.

"Need any help in there?"

"I'm fine, thanks," she jumped at the knock at the door.

"Well I was just thinking, since I'm the one who got you dirty maybe I could help you clean-up."

"Yeah right, in a really dirty way."

He was silent, but she could see his grin through the door.

"No thank you, you've done enough."

"I could do it again."

"Randall... go get your son."

She heard his soft footsteps padding away towards the bedroom before she got in the tub and pulled the curtain closed.

She had just finished rinsing the shampoo out of her hair when there was another, louder knock on the door.

"I'll be out in a minute."

"No you gotta come out now. I can't find Dorian."

Everything on the entire planet froze.

"What?"

"He's not with Chris. I can't find him. I've looked all over our floor."

"Are you kidding me?" she turned off the water and grabbed a towel on her way over to the door. She threw open the door and althought she already knew the answer by the frantic look on his face, asked the question again, "You're joking aren't you?"

"Would I joke about something like this? Get dressed, we have to find him."

No kidding.

McKayla wrapped the towel around herself and ran into the bedroom to throw something on while Justin ran back out into the hall where everyone was busy calling out Dorian's name. Barely 30 seconds had passed before McKayla re-entered the living section of their hotelroom, wearing a pink valure track suit, her damp braids in a high ponytail. It didn't take a genius to tell Justin wasn't in the hotelroom, but when she opened the door she wasn't expecting to find the entire 25th floor completely deserted. Usually there was security guards posted around, and different celebrities from the event milling around. But now, it was dead silent, and there wasn't a soul to be seen. She half expected a tumbleweed to go by.

"Justin?" she called in one direction.

Nothing.

"Eric?" she called in another.

Silence.

That certainly didn't calm her nerves any. After letting out a sigh she headed down the hall and onto an elevator. Maybe they were in the lobby talking to hotel security or something.Wherever she did find them she was going to chew them out for leaving her behind. The ride down to the ground floor was the longest in her life, and when the door slid open she was knocked off guard for a minute. It was the complete opposite of upstairs. There were people, 90% fans and the rest hotel security, everywhere. And she was alone, Justinless and Ericless.

When she stepped off the elevator no one seemed to notice her. Probably because she was dressed down with no makeup on. For some reason, she felt the need not to head to the front desk where she originally intended, but instead to the pool. Why? She had no idea, it seemed like a dumb hunch to have. But she followed it anyway. The pool was down several long halls, and past the hotel resturant. Along the way only a few people seemed to have any inklination that she was someone famous, and she didn't bother to pay any of those people any mind. She was on a mission to prove to herself that there was nothing worthwhile going on by the pool, so she could go alert the frontdesk that there was a missing famous child in the hotel, and then find her husband and her bodyguard.

The sun was still shinning bright, warming the Miami sand, even though it was now dipping low in the sky, making it turn a bright orange shade. Most people were inside, trying to get a glimpse of someone wandering around or heading out to the party early, but even though 90% of them were inside there was still a good amount of people laying poolside sipping Tequila Sunrises. McKayla weaved through some of the tables, shading her eyes and she looked out towards the horizon. There wasn't a child in sight that she could tell.

"Hey McKayla!"

She couldn't help the way her eyes rolled. She wasn't annoyed, but this wasn't exactly the best time for a fan to come up to her. She turned to her right, giving the fan a lazy look. She saw exactly what she expected. A 20 year-old in a short pleated skirt and a camera around her neck. However, she wasn't expecing the 20 year-old to be holding her son on her hip.

"Dorian!" McKayla let out a squeal as she ran over to him and pulled into the tightest hug she'd even given him.

"Dorian we have been looking for you everywhere. Where were you?" she kissed his head repeatedly despite his squeals and attempts to push her affection away.

"We saw him about to get in the pool, so we grabbed him. We didn't figure out he was your son until a few miutes later. My friends thought they saw Justin in the lobby so they went to go look for him."

"Fank you so mooch. I wreally appreshiate it," it came out alittle jumbled and as more of a mumble then she intended because she was still planting kissed on her babies head.

"It's no problem really. I'm just glad we saw him before something happened."

"Oh I know."

Dorian let out a yawn and both females smiled.

"I better get him upstairs. Thank you so much again," McKayla offered the girl a hug before turned to make her way back down the long halls and up to her room.

"You and Mommy are going to have a long talk about going off by yourself. How did you get down here anyway?"

Dorian put one of her braids in his mouth and laid his head on her shoulder.

SpongueBob was digging through garbage on television when there was a rapid knock on the door, followed by the sound of someone hurriedly sliding a key card through the lock.When McKayla pulled it open, Justin was there, looking flushed.

"You're still in here? Did you not here me when I said our son was missing?" he brushed past her and into the kitchen.

"Did you not hear your cellphone ring eighty times so I could tell you I found him?"

"It's really irr-what?" Justin paused as his rant was just beginning, finger still in the air.

"I found him."

"You did?"

"Yeah, like half an hour ago. Where have you been?"

"Covering every inch of this hotel. Where was he?" he shrugged off his dark coat.

"By the pool."

Justin smacked himself on the forehead, "Ofcourse, he loves our pool at home.Where is he?"

"On our bed, watching Tv."

Justin moved past her and through the double doors. There, planted on the bed, chewing on a piece of a fish stick, was Dorian, watching SpongueBob Squarepants go on some adventure.

"Hey Romeo," Justin sat down on the bed and pulled his son into his lap.

"Ay Daddy."

"Hey buddy. You gave us a scare today when you ran off today."

His responce was a blank stare.

"Mommy and Daddy got really worried about you."

More blank staring.

"You're not going to do that ever again, right?"

Dorian reached up and pushed on his chin, closing his fathers mouth, before leaning up against him with a sigh. It was moments like these that Justin's entire world seemed to be at peace, if only for a minute. Moments like these reminded him what fatherhood was all about. It was about loving, teaching, and protecting the tiny boy sitting in his lap. He'd never forget that first night Dorian was at home. Justin spent all night laying on his back with Dorian's tiny body nestled against his chest.

"Ay Daddy," Dorian said softly before climbing off of his father and going back to his fish sticks and SpongueBob.

Justin watched him for a minute, taking in his bright brown eyes and wild little afro before he became aware that he too was being watched. He looked up at McKayla who was leaning against the doorframe before standing with a grunt and making his way towards her. She up straight to look at him, and he brushed her hair back behind her shoulders before kissing her. She stared at him lovingly, and for a moment he almost thought he was going to get away scottfree.

"I can't believe you lost him."

But he was wrong.

"I didn't lose him."

"You did too lose him."

"I didn't lose him. Chris did."

"Chris is your friend. This still counts as negative two on your side of the scoreboard. The next time I lose him in a 'security cirlce' you better not say one word. And I better not find him strapped to a vaccum cleaner when we get home."

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