Thud.

"Ow."

There was a snicker.

"Shut up."

"Sorry it was funny, I saw that coming and you didn't."

"Well, excuse me, I've never broken into a house before."

"We're not breaking into a house," McKayla flicked on the light switch in my hotel

room."

Shannon muttered and headed into the kitchen, immediately opening the styrofoam contains that roomservice had brought hours before. McKayla went to the cabinet, pulling out a few plates and gathering silverware.

"So where's hubby tonight?" Athena picked up a fork and leaned over her plate of spaghetti.

"He's doing some commercials for basketball or something, I don't know. Anyway, he won't be coming in till later," McKayla handed Shannon a fork.

"Awww... he's out till all hours of the morning working and your back here in the hotelroom."

"Trace is with him," she shrugged.

"Trace is the blonde one right?"

"Yes, ask Shannon, she's knows all about him."

Shannon elbowed McKayla, and Athena grew suspicious.

"What's going on? What is it that I don't know? Tell me tell me tell me."

"Alittle over a year ago McKayla and Justin caught Shannon leaving Trace's house, early in the morning, alittle out of it," Eric explained, his smile growing brighter as Shannon's blush got deeper.

"Oh my God Shannon what did you do?! Did you sleep with him? Are you a virgin?" her voice got low and menacing.

McKayla hung her head to hide her laughter. Shannon was no ho, but she was no virgin either.

"That is none of your business," Shannon put a hand on her hip and cracked a smile of her own.

"I just wanna know if your in the V club. McKayla are you a virgin?"

"I'm a married woman. If I'm a virgin, something is wrong."

"But were you a virgin till you got married?"

"Yes...."

"Then you're in the V club!" Athena gave her a high five.

"... but I don't know if I wanna join a club about it."

"There's nothing wrong with the V club, I'm in the V club, the V club's cool. Eric, are you in the V club?"

Eric stood up straight and looked towards the door.

"This conversations getting a little too girlie for me. I'm going to my room."

"Ooo wait, you can walk me to my room. You guys know there's weirdo lurking up and down these halls all the time," she picked up her sky blue shaw that matched the blue toe socks she had pulled up to her knees.

"What I think you don't understand is one of those weirdo's is you," McKayla smiled with the spoon still in her mouth.

"Ahaha-ahaha," her voice was all but amused, "I'm leaving. Oh! Does anyone wanna fundraiser for UNICEF in the lobby with me tomorrow?" she pulled a pink baggy out her purse with UNICEF written on it.

"Keyclubbers sure do look different these days don't they?" Shannon muttered to McKayla.

"I was President of the Keyclub at my high school thank you very much, and I still keep in touch with them."

"I'll believe it," she took the bag to look it over.

"I'm going to pass Athena. I just wrote UNICEF a big check, and I'm not in the mood to get mobbed."

"And I'm not in the mood to go stand in the lobby and watch her," Eric followed up McKayla's response.

"But you guys, I can't go by myself," Athena's bottom lip poked out.

"Oh relax, I'll go with you. I need to do something to feel like I'm giving back to the community. Watching you donate to all those organizations every other month is making me feel ungiving."

McKayla smiled as she watched her friend stand up straight and stretch her back.

"Are you leaving me too?"

"Yeah. We have the day off tomorrow and I wanna hit the hay now and then sleep in as much as possible before she comes to wake me up," she glanced over at Athena who smiled back.

"Be ready bright and early."

"I'll see you tomorrow night, if not sooner."

"All right, night you guys," McKayla waved her spoon at them as they headed down the hall.

As soon as they were out the door McKayla tossed all the containers into the fridge and headed into the bedroom. That king sized bed sounded good right now.

~*~

"Ow."

There was a snicker.

"Shut up."

"Sorry, it's just that Shannon tripped over the same thing when we came in," McKayla turned on the lamp near the bedroom door.

"So you couldn't have warned my ass?" she could tell he was grumpy as he walked over to her.

But he had a right to be, it was 3 am and he was just getting there.

"I was asleep," she yawned.

"Right where I wanna be," he leaned down to give her a kiss and fingered the strap on her night gown as he did.

"This is nice," he commented.

"It's a present."

"From who?"

"Yo Mama."

"Funny."

She giggled and turned back towards the room.

"I'm going to bed. It's cold out here."

"I think you should model this gift for me," his arm snacked around her waist as he followed closely behind her.

"I don't think so buddy."

"Baby, I don't feel good. Don't you wanna make me feel better?"

She could hear the Timberlake pout in his voice and she refused to turn and look at him.

"If you don't feel good then you need to get away from me before I catch it. Besides, I'm sleep walking right now. If you wanna do anything with me, your going to have to come back in about 13 hours and see how I feel then."

"Brat," his palm came in contact with her behind before he headed into the bathroom.

McKayla scooted closer to the warm figure beside her, wrapping her arms around his waist and putting her legs between his.

"What are you doing Kay?"

"Friggin cold! Oh my God, it's so cold. Snuggle, please snuggle with me. I'm so cold," she pulled the blankets over her head and tightened her hold on him.

Justin smiled and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand.

"That's not snuggling," her voice was muffled by his back.

"So how you feeling lately?"

"Fine."

"Really? No morning sickness or weird cravings?"

McKayla opened one eye.

"I'm not pregnant, just cold."

Justin turned over and she could feel his stare as he pushed her hair away from her face.

"Maybe we should go to the doctor or something. See if maybe there's something going on that we don't know about."

"That's alittle drastic don't you think?"

"Well, it couldn't hurt."

"We don't need fertility drugs Randall, you just need to give it time. People don't get pregnant over night, well they do but still, just be patient. Speaking of time, it's bathroom time."

She put her feet on the carpet and hurried into the bathroom. Justin's chuckling floated in behind her and she shot him a glare in the mirror.

"Shut up, it's not funny."

"Like hell it's not."

"Hey, you get your butt outta that big comfy bed and see what I'm dealing with out here in the cold cold world."

Justin smiled sleepily and looked away. McKayla to step to the side, to what appeared to Justin to be the small room hiding the toilet, and over to her bag containing her pills. She popped one in her mouth and stepped back over to the sink, leaning down to drink some water from the faucet.

"What are you still doing here anyway? Don't you have a magazine shoot today?"

"Tomorrow. I have the day off today, Thank fuckin God."

"You're going to hell for that one Mister," she climbed back into bed.

"Nah, God understands what I'm going through. But when we have a baby it's not going to be like this. I'm gonna drop a lot of shit, and we're going to be at home a lot more and only one of us will be away at a time, for no more than 3 days at a time, that way we won't have to travel with the baby and we can keep it hidden from the press alittle bit more. I want it to grow up as normal as possible, him and all his siblings."

McKayla's eyebrow arched. Now it was a boy, and it was going to be the first of many?

"I think you have some time to worry about that Randy," she patted his shoulder.

"You're right," he nodded.

Then the look in his eye changed from thoughtful, to playful, to lustful, and his body language changed. His eyes darkened as he turned on his side, running his hand up her stomach, over her chest, to caress her cheek.

"So how do you feel about modeling that nighty for me now?"

That is so stupid,' she told herself.

Whether it was or not, was up for debate. She couldn't pin point one exact word to describe exactly how she felt, but used came up a lot, and so did pawn. Things were so different from 5 years before, 3 years before, 6 months before. At one time she felt in control and sure about everything that was happening. She was in charge of her career. She knew who, when, what, where, why. She didn't do the interview is she didn't want to. She didn't do the show if she didn't feel like it. Then, even since the honeymoon things were planned for her. She didn't know where she was going to be the next day, let alone a week into the future. She'd been so sure that her career was going great, and she was married to man she loved, and everything was so perfect. So untouchable.

And she did love her husband, deeply. More than she thought she ever could. But if anyone made her feel more out of control it was him. He was always talking about a baby, what they do with it, what they would name it, what would happen, this, that, and the other. She'd even over heard him telling Trace that they had decided to move to Millington once she had a baby. Now it wasn't even a baby, now it was several. All boys according to him. She didn't remember talking about Millington, she didn't remember talking about several children. The only thing she did remember was trying to explain to him that she didn't want any children right now. But it seemed like he was wearing earplugs when it came her wants and needs. It was the 'Justin Timberlake' show and she was simply along for the ride, there to give him children and fill the other side of the bed.

That wasn't fair and she knew it. He didn't mean to take over her life, he just had some growing up to do, but he did take her over and it was starting to get to her. Even something as intimate as making love was now tainted. There was a point in time where he made love to her because he needed her. Because he loved her and wanted to be close to her, and touch her, and be close her. She knew now that it was nothing more than to produce offspring, nothing more than an act he had to perform to get from point A to point B. It had nothing to do with her, her body, or being on a level that she considered so magical.

Sometimes she just wanted to sit him down and scream at him. Tell him how stupid she was being for keeping this secret and how sorry she was for it, and how stupid he was being to making her and not listening to her. But she couldn't. She knew she couldn't, not without a big blow out that would undeniable leave someone hurting. More than anything she wanted to protect their relationship from that. Skip over it like pressing fast forward on a tape in the VCR. But she knew she was doing nothing more than holding the 'pause' button, and the next scene would be one of the most important in their lives.

"So, have you and Justin talked about your not really wanting to have a baby yet, yet?"

"No, and would you shut up, he's in the next room," McKayla put the juice bottle back in the fridge.

Shannon glanced into the living room to see Justin and Trace ingrossed in some TV show about Hugh Heffner.

"I don't think them overhearing is going to be a problem. So come on tell me, when are you going to say something?"

"I don't know," she pulled herself up on the counter next to the stove.

"Well, you better start thinking. You can only put it off for so long."

"Oh I know. Believe me I know. I just don't know how to say it. I don't want to hurt him."

"Sometimes the truth hurts."

"Yeah, but the people who love you are supposed to protect you," she sighed, "I've been maybe we need sometime apart. There's a two day AIDS concert in Miami and I think maybe I should go alone. I mean we're been together everyday since we got married. Maybe sometime apart would let me get things together. Maybe it'll help me get my mind on the right track to tell him, or maybe his head'll clear and he'll understand what I've been trying to say."

Shannon rolled her eyes. McKayla was always looking for the none confrontational way out.

"I just some space to breathe ya know? I'll tell him after."

"McKayla, your a grown woman, so your going to do what you want. But please remember that this is your life. It's not a dress rehearsal, this is it."

McKayla nodded. She knew this was the real thing, that's why she was so afraid. There was no going back.

"Hey Kay, Trace thinks I should stretch my ears," Justin walked into the kitchen.

"What happened to your show?" Shannon glanced at Trace as he stood next to her.

"Commercial break."

"Justin Randall Timberlake don't you dare stretch your ears that is so gross," McKayla put her hands over his earlobes.

"No, it's not, it looks cool."

"When there's plugs in it yeah, but what about when your sitting at home and you take them out and they're flopping all over the place. That's so gross," she shuddered, "and they smell too."

"They do not," Justin leaned against the counter next to her.

"Yeah they do. The oils or whatever in your ear come out and they smell."

Justin made a face.

"See baby, bad idea," McKayla rubbed his head, and then tugged on his ear for good measure.

The room suddenly got quiet and her vision moved from Justin to Shannon, who was whispering with Trace. McKayla and Justin exchanged a look before they watched the two intently, wondering what the secret conversation was about.

Shannon noticed the quiet and looked over at the couple, rolling her eyes at their curious stare.

"Come on," she pulled on Trace's hand, leading him into the livingroom.

McKayla jumped down from the counter to stand next to her husband.

"They're spanking. They're so spanking," she concluded.

"They're been spankin for a year and they won't tell us @#%$."

~*~

"So, okay, baby, I wanna talk to you about something," McKayla stood up after she zipped her suitcase.

"What?" he was folding a pill of shirts on the bed.

"There's this concert in Miami, for funding for AIDS research."

"Uh-huh?"

"And I wanna go."

"When is it?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"I don't know if I can make it to Miami Kay. I've got to do some stuff in Toronto and then LA-."

"No, I wanna, I wanna go alone."

"Alone?"

"Yeah, to Miami. We've been doing this whole, we stay together thing, along time, and it's silly because sometimes one of us wants to miss something we really wanna do because the other can't make it."

"I don't think it's silly. I'd never see you otherwise," he motioned for her to come closer and she moved to stand next to the bed, picking at the blankets uncomfortably.

"I know, and I don't mean the idea itself is silly. I just mean the fact that we never separate is silly. There's nothing wrong with us being apart for a few days is there?"

His face didn't seem convinced, or pleased.

"McKayla-."

"Let's just try it. It's only two days, and then I'm in LA with you. Let's just try it and see how we feel about it, if it works or not. If we miss eachother too much then we'll never do it again," she climbed up on the bed next to him.

"Kay you do concerts like this all the time-."

"I know, but I really wanna do this, and I don't want you to miss Toronto, I know that's important for your career."

Justin looked her over, sighing disapprovingly.

"Are you sure you wanna do this? I mean you have to do this?" he asked.

"Yes."

"It's only 2 days?"

"Yes."

"Then I guess I can hack it," he said softly.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

She smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Go, go have your concert, and hurry up and come back aiight?"

"Okay," she kissed his cheek.

"McKayla! Hurry up, your going to miss your flight!"

"I'm coming!" she stuck her head outta the bathroom.

Her eyes scanned the area, making sure nothing was going to be left behind. She spotted Justin's aftershave in the corner and tossed it into one of the open bags, then she tossed her pills into another bag and looked around one more time before zipping them up. One bag was going with her to Miami. the other two, one filled with Justin's toiletries and the other filled with things she wouldn't need in Miami, were going with him to NY and then LA.

"Hurry up!"

"I said I'm coming!"

"What's the hold up?" Justin walked in.

"I'm just grabbing all the crap you missed Massa."

"Funny. Real funny," he faked a grin and picked up his bag.

"Take that one too, it's going with you to LA," she pointed.

He grabbed them both and looked at her.

"That it?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go, get a move on."

McKayla rolled her eye, not in the mood for his perfectionistic ways, and grabbed her last suitcase before following him out the door. The couple said good-bye at the airport before they, and they're respective 'people' got on their separate flights.

"So how long is this flight again?" McKayla leaned against one of the leather seats of the private jet.

"Four hours."

"Well, someone better find a good movie and pop some popcorn. I'll be right back," she grabbed her toilette bag and headed to the bathroom. She'd had breakfast, but she hadn't had time to take her pill with the waking up late and the hustle and bustle of getting to the airport on time.

After locking the door behind herself she put her bag up on the counter and dug into it. There wasn't a pink container to be seen. She chewed on her lip and dug alittle deeper. After no success she started to panic slightly and began pulling things out of it, soon the bag as empty and still no small pink container. Her face turned pale with realization.

She'd put the pills in the other bag. The bag on it's way to New York. The bag with Justin. Justin. Oh God. What if he looked in it? What if he found them? Oh man, this was not the way he was supposed to find out. This wasn't not how she'd planned it. She couldn't call him and ask him not to go in the bag, because that would be suspicious and then he would just to see what she was hiding. And she couldn't ask someone to go in the bag and hide them for her because no one knew she was on the pill. Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

He was going to find it, and then he was going to fly to Miami and kill her, right there on stage infront of 60,000 people he was going to climb on stage and strangle her. Well, maybe he wouldn't even look in the bag. He was a pretty respectful person. He didn't bother her things after she caught him rearranging her shoes in the closet and threatened him with cruel and unusual torture. Maybe he'd just mind his own business and keep out of it. Ha... that chance was slim to none.

Shit.