Brenna was just pulling a towel around her body when she heard the sounds of Justin coming into their room.

“Bren?” he asked, knocking on the closed door.

She went over and opened it and then grabbed her brush and ran it through her wet hair. “Hi. Did you just get home?”

“Yeah. Did you have a bath?”

“Yeah.”

He smiled. “You should have waited for me. I would have had a bath with you.”

She rolled her eyes and gave his chest a push to move him so she could exit the bathroom. “Sure.”

He laughed and followed her into their bedroom. “So how was your day off?”

She shrugged and went over to her dresser. “Fine. I went out for lunch with Drew and Kate.” She watched his reflection in the mirror, not missing the way Justin’s nose wrinkled in distaste at the mention of Drew’s name. It seemed like some things would never change.

“Did Kate say if she had booked that hotel in Miami for next month?”

“I never asked her.”

“I hope she did. It’s going to book up fast wit the award show.”

She nodded and pulled her pajamas from her dresser, wincing a bit as she straightened.

“Are you alright?”

She sighed and nodded. “My back just really, really hurts. It has all afternoon.”

“Have you tried taking some Tylenol?”

“It doesn’t work. I thought a bath would help but it didn’t.”

“Are you up for one more remedy?”

She looked over at him. “What?”

He took her hand and pulled her over to the bed. “A massage.”

She smiled a bit. “Are you any good at massages?”

“Baby, I’m the best.”

She laughed at him. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

He smiled. “Lay down.”

She carefully laid down on her front, pulling a pillow under her so no weight would be on her stomach. Once she was settled, Justin sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Hey, do you still have those massage oils?”

She rested her head on her arms, turning it to the side. “Middle drawer of my bedside table, I think.”

“Okay.”

She closed her eyes as he reached over to the table. She heard him rustle through the drawer and then it was quiet.

“So is this for us to use?”

She opened her eyes to see Justin holding the bottle of chocolate body paint in front of her face. She felt her cheeks redden immediately.

“No,” she said quickly. “I mean, I don’t know. I just found it in there. I must have bought it before the accident.”

He laughed and examined the bottle. “I never knew you were into stuff like this, Bren. You know, I wouldn’t be opposed to trying this.”

She turned her face into her arms, completely embarrassed. “Shut up,” she mumbled.

He laughed again and set the bottle on the table. “Hey, you’re the one who bought it.”

She merely shook her head, not responding. The bed shifted a bit as Justin adjusted himself, straddling her hips and sitting back. She turned her head back on its side as he moved her hair over one shoulder. He undid her towel and pulled it apart so her back was bare and she closed her eyes as she felt a couple drops of liquid hit her back, followed by the smell of vanilla. A sigh escaped her as Justin’s hands began to massage her back.

“Feel good?” he asked after a minute.

“Yeah,” she said softly, feeling her whole body relax as his hands deftly massaged her back. It was quiet for a moment before he spoke again.

“So do you still want to wait to find out the sex of the baby?”

She opened her eyes. “I don’t know.”

“Cause I know we said we wanted to wait but today I was thinking that if we knew the sex we could start to buy stuff. And I just kind of want to know.”

“Me too. I have my OB appointment next week. I could ask Dr. Istrov.”

“’Cool.” His hands moved from her upper back to her lower back. “Have you thought up any names?”

She smiled a bit. “I haven’t really thought up any I like. Have you?”

“For a boy I thought Aiden or Nathanial.”

“Aiden’s nice.”

“And I like the name’s Leila and Kennedy for a girl.”

“Not Kennedy. There was this girl in my high school named Kennedy and she was so stuck up and rude.”

Justin’s hand stilled. “What?”

She closed her eyes. “What.”

“How did you know about a girl in your high school? Did someone tell you that?”

Her eyes flew open. “No. I…I don’t know. It just came out.”

Justin leaned down and kissed her cheek. “You remembered something else, Bren.”

She smiled slightly. “Yeah.”

“And that was like so spontaneous. It was like you knew it all along and was just saying it as an afterthought.” He sat back up again and her eyes closed as he resumed massaging her back. “You remember that we have that appointment with Dr. Waters on Thursday, right?”

“Yeah.”

It was quiet for a moment. “So not Kennedy then. What about Leila?”

“Yeah, that’s nice. You do realize that we still have like 5 months, right?”

“I know. I was just thinking some up. Hey maybe after we find out the sex of the baby we could go shopping and pick out some stuff for the nursery. Cause if we wait too long, you aren’t going to feel like doing it.”

She nodded slightly but didn’t say anything. The effects of laying there and Justin’s soothing hands were slowly putting her to sleep. Justin kept talking but she could only resist her tiredness for a few minutes before falling asleep.

*                      *                      *

Opening the door to the OB’s office, Justin stepped inside and glanced around. There were only a few people sitting there but no Brenna. He went over to the receptionist and after confirming that Brenna was still in with the doctor, he sat down in one of the waiting room chairs.

He had wanted to come to the appointment with Brenna but he had planned lunch with a producer he wanted on an upcoming song he was recording and he couldn’t reschedule it.

Checking his watch, he leaned back in his chair and drummed his fingers on his legs restlessly. Brenna was going to ask about the sex of the baby and he was anxious to find out. Ultimately, he just wanted a healthy baby but he couldn’t help think how great it would be to have a boy. When his half brothers were little, he had loved teaching them things and playing with them and he knew it would be even better if it was his own son.

He heard a door close and glanced up. He jumped up when Brenna appeared.

“How’d it go?”

She smiled. “Good.”

“Did you ask?”

“Hold on. I have to schedule my next appointment.”

His impatience grew as he stood by her at the front desk and she booked another appointment. When she was done, he followed her out of the office and into the hallway. Before she could take another step, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to a stop.

“Did you ask?” he repeated.

Her lips curved up. “We’re having a boy.”

A smile broke across his face. “Really? A boy?”

She nodded and laughed as he hugged her tightly. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he kissed her forehead, then cheek, and then mouth.

“This is so awesome,” he said, pulling back. He pulled her closer to him and he had just leaned his head down to kiss her again when he heard footsteps. Looking up, he realized there was a lady needing to get into the doorway they were blocking and he pulled Brenna to the side.

“Sorry,” he said quickly and then grabbed Brenna’s hand and pulled her with him to the elevator.

“This is what you wanted, right?” Brenna asked as they waited for the elevator.

He looked over at her. “I never said I wanted a boy.”

“You didn’t have to. You wanted a boy.”

He smiled slightly. “Well…maybe. A girl would have been cool too. But a boy’s going to be awesome. Aren’t you excited?”

She smiled. “Yeah, I am.”

“What else did the doctor say?”

“She said everything’s looking good. Just to make sure I’m not doing anything too strenuous. But she says everything’s normal.”

“But you’re still so small for 4 months.”

She shrugged. “Dr. Istrov said everything was okay. Besides my mom told me she was really small when she was pregnant with me.”

“Still.”

She laughed a bit. “Do you want me to be as big as an elephant?”

He smiled. “No. But I want the baby to be healthy.”

“And he is.”

His smile grew at her words. They were having a boy. “I’m going to call my mom quickly and tell her.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his mother’s number. She picked up after a couple rings.

“Mom, guess what,” he said once she had said hello.

“Well hello to you too, Justin. And what?”

“We’re having a boy!” he said, smiling over at Brenna.

“Oh, you are? That’s wonderful! Did you just find out?”

“Yeah, we’re just leaving the OB’s office now.”

“I thought you were going to wait until the baby was born.”

“We were but we just wanted to know now.”

“You must be so happy. You wanted a boy too.”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“That’s exactly what Brenna said.”

“Well I guess the women in your life know you well.”

He smiled. “I guess so.”

“So what are you guys up to?”

“We were going to go shopping for some stuff for the nursery now that we know it’s a boy.”

“Well once you’re done, call me back. Then I’ll talk to Brenna too.”

“Okay. Bye, Mom.”

“Bye”

He hung up and slipped his phone in his pocket as he and Brenna walked outside the building and to the parked car. “So where do you want to go?”

“There’s a couple maternity places and baby stores near Rodeo Drive.”

“Alright.”

They spent the next two hours shopping. Justin had never had such a good time buying things. Now that they knew it was a boy, there was no limit on the things they could get and by time they left the last store, the trunk and backseat of the car was full of bags. Brenna was hungry at that point so they left their things in the car and then began walking down the sidewalk to find a restaurant.

He was in the middle of telling Brenna about an idea he had had for the nursery when she interrupted him.

“Hey, that’s Drew,” she said, stopping in her tracks.

His words faded out and he looked to where she was pointing. Inside a restaurant, he could see Drew sitting at a table alone, looking at a newspaper. “Oh.”

“I’m going to go say hello.”

He sighed and was about to protest but Brenna was already walking into the restaurant. Quickening his step, he caught up with her inside. He didn’t say anything as she made her way through the restaurant towards where Drew was sitting.

“Drew,” she said as they neared and he looked up.

“Hey,” he smiled. “What are you doing here?”

“We saw you through the window. Are you here alone?”

“Yeah. Just taking a break from the studio. I have a break in between classes. Hi, Justin.”

“Hi.”

“What are you guys doing?”

“We were shopping,” Brenna said. “Now we’re just getting something to eat.”

“Here?”

“Sure. Want some company?”

He smiled. “Sure.”

Justin cleared his throat as Brenna pulled out a chair at the table. “Brenna, I thought you wanted to go to that deli across the street.”

She gave him a look as she sat down. “It really doesn’t matter. I wanted to eat here.”

He silently sighed and reluctantly sat, not wanting to spend anytime with Drew but also not wanting to get into a fight with Brenna in the middle of the restaurant. So instead, he kept his mouth shut as they sat there with Drew. He didn’t even bother to try and include himself in the conversation. By time they left the restaurant, he was thoroughly pissed off.

Brenna was the first one to say anything once they were in the car. “You could have been nicer.”

He didn’t look at her as he stared the car. “What?”

“Justin, you were like glaring at him the entire meal. You made that so uncomfortable!”

He rolled his eyes. “I did not.”

“Yes you did!”

“Well it sure didn’t stop you from talking nonstop with him for an hour. You would have thought there wasn’t another soul in the restaurant.”

This time it was her that rolled her eyes. “Give me a break.”

“It’s true.”

“When exactly are you going to get over this jealousy thing?” she demanded. “How long is it going to take to realize that I wouldn’t cheat on you?”

“It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s him. He’s in love with you and it’s like that’s just not a big deal to you.”

“Well it’s not. And he’s not. You’re paranoid.”

He scoffed. “Or maybe you’re just dense.”

A hurt looked flashed across her face and she crossed her arms over her chest and turned to look out the window. He sighed and reached his hand out to touch her leg.

“Brenna…”

She jerked away from him. “Don’t.”

The rest of the ride was silent. When they reached the house, Brenna got out of the car without a word and went inside, slamming the door behind her. Justin sighed and slowly got out and went inside. He went upstairs to their bedroom and found the door shut. Going over to it, he knocked.

“Brenna.”

There was no answer and when he tried to open the door, he found it locked. He knocked again.

“Bren, come on.”

No sound came from inside and with a large sigh, he left the door and went back downstairs. He emptied all the bags out of the car and brought them up to the nursery, leaving the bags of maternity clothes sitting outside the still closed bedroom door.

In the nursery, he saw the half assembled crib, the change table still in its packaging, and the bags covering the floor. Realizing he really had nothing else to do for the afternoon, especially since Brenna wasn’t talking to him, he went across the room and picked up the instructions for the crib. He finished putting it together and then moved onto the changing table. It was after five when he finished and he stepped back to admire his work. He stood there for a minute before going to the pile of bags they had bought that day and going through them. He found the mobile and blankets for the crib and carefully arranged them with it. Once satisfied, he gathered up al the packaging and garbage and left the room.

Brenna still had herself locked in their room and he went right downstairs instead of bothering her. After throwing out the garbage, he went to the kitchen and pulled out some take out menus. He was hungry and he didn’t see Brenna cooking anything that night so instead, he ordered some Chinese.

Figuring Brenna must be cooled off by that point, he decided to go upstairs and talk to her. The door was unlocked when he tested it and he eased it open to find Brenna sitting on the bed, watching TV. She looked over at him as he came in.

“Can we talk?”

She shut off the TV and looked at him silently.

“Look, I shouldn’t have called you dense. I didn’t mean it.”

“Then why did you say it.”

“Because I was mad about Drew. I can’t stand him.”

“He’s my friend.”

He reached up a hand to rub his temples. Any conversation they had about Drew always went like this. It was like a broken record.

“Fine, he’s your friend. And I’m sorry I called you dense. You know I didn’t mean it.”

She nodded slowly.

“So are you still mad?”

She shook her head and stood. “No, it’s fine.”

“Good.”

“I’m hungry though.”

“I thought you would be so I ordered some Chinese. It should be here in like ten minutes.”

She smiled. “Okay.”

Grabbing her hand, he tugged her towards the door. “Come see what I did.”

She followed him into the hallway and he led her down to the nursery. He heard her breath catch in her throat as they stepped into the room.

“You put everything together.”

He smiled and watched her go over to the crib and run her hand over the top railing. “Yeah.”

“It looks so good,” she said softly. “Oh and you put the mobile up.” She reached up and turned it on and quiet music filled the room as the mobile spun slowly.

He looked around the room, satisfied with how it had turned out. He was surprised to see there were a couple tears running down Brenna’s cheeks when he turned back to her.

“Hey, why are you crying?” he asked softly, going over to her.

She sniffed. “I don’t know. I’m just so happy.” She laughed a bit. “It’s just stupid hormones.”

He smiled slightly and wrapped his arms around her from behind and leaned his head down to rest his chin on her shoulder. “I’m really happy too.”