“Are you still brooding?” JC asked with a chuckle as he walked into the room.

Justin stopped the tape he’d been watching and tossed the remote onto the sofa beside him. “I’m not brooding. It just pisses me off. It’s not fair.” He crossed his arms and turned his nose up at the sandwich on the plate that JC held out toward him.

“Come on Jus. I know you’re hungry. It’s turkey on whole wheat, your favorite. I even used that nasty real mayo that you like instead of miracle whip.” JC cajoled, waving the plate slowly in front of Justin again.

Justin took the plate grudgingly thanking JC.

“Stop pouting, Justin. You know why things have to be like they are. I’m sorry it upsets you so much but I don’t know what else we can do.” JC said, reaching up to run a hand through Justin’s hair.

Justin chewed slowly and then sighed dramatically as he sat his sandwich on the coffee table. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at JC. “It’s not fair. You’re having a baby. Everybody knows that you are and you get to be so excited about it. I can’t be though. I have to pretend to be Uncle Justin while Bobbee get’s to play mommy. It just sucks.” He pouted.

JC grinned and nudged Justin with his shoulder. “You wanna play mommy?” He teased.

Justin smiled slightly and nudged JC back. “No and you know what I mean. Besides you’re the mommy, not me.” He said leaning in to rub JC’s belly and grin mischievously.

“I know you hate that everybody thinks it’s Bobbee’s and my baby. I wish there was some way that we could tell the truth but honestly, Justin, you know what that would do to both of our careers. To Nsync really.” JC said, pressing his hand on top of Justin’s and rubbing his stomach with it.

Justin watched their hands running over the mound their baby made and frowned. “I’m starting to get to the point where I don’t even care.”

JC looked sharply at Justin. “You aren’t serious. Are you?” He asked softly.

Justin looked up at JC timidly. “Yes.” He whispered.

“You know it would never work. Nsync would split up and eventually we would too. We’d end up resenting each other and feeling like we held each other back from our dreams. Some day when this is all over and nobody will care we can tell the world that she’s our baby. We just can’t right now.” JC said, leaning to the side and pressing a kiss to Justin’s forehead.

Justin slumped down on the sofa resting his head on JC’s shoulder. “What if I don’t want Nsync anymore? What if I just want you and the baby? What if I say that I’ve had enough celebrity to last me a lifetime and now all I want is to live happily ever after with you and our baby?”

“That’s not really what you want, Jus. I know that you love who we are and what we do. You’re not ready to give it up. Not even for the baby and me. And I’m not ready to lose you by asking you to give it up.” JC stilled their hands and wove his fingers through Justin’s squeezing them tightly.

Justin pulled his hand from JC’s and stood. “I guess you don’t know me as well as you think you do then. This isn’t what I wanted. After MMC ended I was perfectly happy staying home and going to school like a normal kid. I didn’t have dreams yet JC. Not dreams like this. My biggest dream at that time was probably about some day meeting Michael Jordan or something like that.” He stopped and looked solemnly down at JC before continuing. “And then one day my mom got a call from your mom. You’d been in LA for a couple of months and you hated it. Your mom told my mom how you’d call home and were practically crying by the time you hung up but you were too proud to go home. She said you were living in a run down bug-ridden studio apartment that you shared with four other guys. You had no heat, you barely scraped by enough money for food most weeks, you weren’t writing your songs, and you’d given up your dream of singing.” Justin stopped talking to look down at JC again before he began pacing. “I cried the night my mom told me that you’d given up your music. Music was your life, JC. That night I told my mom that I’d do whatever I had to do to give you back your music. I’d gone to a couple of auditions for television commercials and stuff, nothing serious or big. That’s where I met Chris. But Chris isn’t really the one that called me about joining the group he was starting. I knew that Chris knew more people than I did so I called him. I begged him to help me find a job for you, something to give you back your music. Chris didn’t tell me at first about his group. He didn’t know you or how passionate you were about the music. He didn’t think I’d be interested in the group and he wasn’t too big on the idea of taking a chance on you seeing as he didn’t know you. Finally he broke down and told me about the group but said he couldn’t guarantee you a spot. He said he wanted to meet you and hear you sing first. He also said that if he did want you that I had to be part of the deal too. I was kinda mad at first because he was blackmailing me into his group like that. In the end though it didn’t matter as long as you were happy again. That’s all I wanted JC was for you to be happy. I agreed immediately and then called you. Nsync was never my dream JC. Maybe it was my dream for you but it was never my dream for myself. So I guess you’re right, I could never give this up because it would mean the end of your dreams. I do love who we are and what we do but I love it because you do, not because it’s what I’ve always wanted for myself.” Justin shrugged his shoulders in defeat before turning toward the door. He stopped in the doorway to look back at JC once more. “I’m gonna go lie down for a while, I have a headache.

”JC nodded and watched Justin’s back as he left the room. He picked up the remote and hit play watching the small bit of TRL that Justin had been watching over and over since the show had aired the day before. On the television he watched a very pregnant looking Bobbee gushing about how happy her and JC were that the baby would be born soon. Carson asked her if the rest of Nsync were ready to become uncles and spoil the baby rotten. Bobbee told Carson that the other guys were all very excited. She mentioned that Justin had already bought the baby about as many pairs of shoes as he owned himself. But then she went on to say that Chris, Lance, and Joey were also going on buying sprees for the baby. JC could see where Justin was hurt by it all but he just didn’t know how to make him feel better about it.

TBC