“I’m coming, hold your pants on, please. That may make all of you fans swoon but it isn’t gonna make me want to come down the stairs.”
“Justine, breath.” Nick called back to her.
A few minutes later she came running down the staircase. “How do I look?” She asked.
“You look fine.” Justin answered, already turning to the door.
“A lot of help you are. You didn’t even look at me.”
“You look great, J, now lets go.” Nick said, moving her towards the door. They walked out into the Tampa sun and walked to Justin’s car.
“I can’t believe this is happening... I never thought that I would actually meet my mother.” Justine said, as she got into the car.
“Well, believe it Sis. You should have seen Mom this morning, she was three times are bad as you are now, Paul almost slapped her.” Justin said with a smile. “Don’t worry. They are going to love you.”
“I sure hope so.”
“Don’t sweat it kid, they have to, they’re your family.” Nick said from the back.
An hour later they pulled up to the driveway of a nice sized house with a security gate around it. “For your safety and that of those around you?” Justine asked.
“Shut up.” Justin said as he put in the code to open the gates. They pulled through and the gates began to shut behind them.
‘There’s no turning back now.’ Justine said to herself. When the car came to a stop in front of the garage she noticed that there were three cars sitting there. ‘I wonder who else is here...’
“I wonder what Dad is doing here...,” Justin said. “Oh well, I guess we’ll find out when we go in. Are you ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Justin smiled at her and opened his door. Justine took a deep breath and said a silent prayer before opening her door and stepping out of the car. She was no longer in her safe zone. She was in the world that she would have lived in if she hadn’t been put up for adoption. This was ‘What if?’ Land.
“Come on, Teeny. It’s just you family.” Nick whispered into her ear.
“That’s easy for you to say. You’ve lived with your family all your life.”
“Come on Justy. Lets go.” Justin grabbed her hand and began to lead her up to the front door. As they got closer she saw a little boy peeking through the curtains. They walked up the steps and to the front door. Justin rang the doorbell, wanting to give Justine all the time possible to compose herself. That time wasn’t very much because a moment later the door opened and Justine was face to face for the first time in 18 years with the woman that had given her life.
“Oh my...” Lynn couldn’t think of any words to say, she was so happy to finally see her daughter in front of her.
“Hi.” Justine said, with a small smile.
“Can I give you a hug?” Lynn asked as what was happening finally hit her. Justine nodded and the two embraced.
A few minutes later they separated and Lynn wiped the tears away from her face. “I can’t believe that you are standing right here in front of me... it’s a miracle.”
“Mom... why don’t we move this inside?” Justin said, smiling at the two of them.
“Oh yes, of course. I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” The older woman stepped aside and opened the door wider so that the three teenagers could walk in. It was only then that she noticed Nick. “Hello there. Aren’t you.... Aren’t you Nick Carter?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I’m a friend of Justine’s and she asked me to come with her today.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Lynn said as she shut the door behind her.
Justine was now faced with a room full of people. Two men were standing over to the side, watching everyone move she made, a woman with a baby was standing next to one of them and clinging to her was the little boy who had been watching them through the window.
“Hello everyone.” Justine said in a small voice.
“Justine, this is our family. This is Mom’s husband, Paul.” Justin pointed to the man that had moved next to Lynn. “That’s Dad and his wife Julie. Julie has Steven, and the other little guy is Jonathan. Everyone... this is Justine...”
“Justine...” Was all that her father could say. The last time he had seen his daughter someone a nurse was taking her to her new foster parents. Now she was eighteen years old and he suddenly regretted not being around to take care of her while she was growing up.
“Justin!” A small voice said from next to him. Both of them looked down to find Jon pulling on Justin’s T-shirt.
“Yeah, buddy?” Justin said, kneeling down next to the little boy.
“Is that her?” He asked, in a loud whisper.
Justine smiled at the younger boy and kneeled down next to Justin. “Yes, Jon, this is Justine. She’s your sister, just like I’m your brother.”
The boy looked her up and down for a moment, and then walked over to his mother. Justine wasn’t sure what to think. She was disappointed that Jon didn’t really want to give her a chance. Both she and Justin stood up and Justin only shrugged his shoulders.
She looked back at Nick, who had been watching the entire thing from the sidelines. He hadn’t missed the look of disappointment on his friend’s face, and he knew that there wasn’t anything that she could do about it. Things were out of his hands. They weren’t in his world anymore. He was in Timberlake Land and no matter how much he wanted to intervene he knew that Justine would have to learn to fight her own battles when it came to her new family.
The rest of the day passed by quickly. Everyone was comfortable with each other, and even the fact that her parents were divorced and both remarried didn’t put a hamper on the conversation that filled everyone room that had more than one person in it.
They spent the entire time talking and trying to catch up with everything that had gone on in the girl’s life up until that point. Justine talked about all of the houses that she had lived in and all the people who had taken care of her. She talked at length about Paige and how great it had been living with her.
They ate lunch together and tried to make up for lost time as much as possible. They all knew that it was going to take a lot more then just one day, but things were off to a good start. For the most part everyone was getting along great, the only thing that bothered all of them was that Jon wouldn’t talk to Justine, he wouldn’t let her talk to Justin if he was in the same room with them, and he wouldn’t let her hold Steven.
“I don’t know what to do.” Justine said later that night as she sat in the backseat, letting Nick take shotgun.
“I don’t really think that there is anything that you can do. He’s just going to have to get used to you.”
“What I don’t understand is the whole not letting me hold Steven, or talk to Justin thing.”
“He’s very protective of Steven, just like I’m protective of them both. I don’t know what to tell you, Teeny. He’ll get over it. I know he will, he just has to get used to the idea of having a sister.” Justin said, looking at her through the rearview mirror.
“Come on Teens, how would you feel if you were four years old and all you’ve ever known is your older brother, then one day your dad sits you down and tells you that you have an older sister that was born the same time as your older brother was, but never lived with you?”
“I guess you’re right. I would probably be confused, and not trust her either. But the fact of the matter is that I’ve never done anything to him before.”
The car was quiet for a minute. “Maybe that’s the problem.”
“What are you talking about Nick?”
“Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe it’s not so much that you haven’t done anything to him, but the fact that you haven’t done anything for him. You haven’t seen him grow up.”
“That’s not my fault.”
“We know that Justine, but I know what Dad told him, and he left out the part about you being adopted. Now that I think about it, the way he said made it sound like you chose to leave. He didn’t do it on purpose, but he just didn’t really have the time to explain everything to the kid. I’m sure that once he spends some time with you, he’ll be just fine.”
Justin sounded so sure of everything, but she wasn’t so certain. “If you say so, Ju.”
“Well, I do say so!” With that he turned up the radio and the rest of the trip was spent listening to music.
