"Kathy, I can’t do the skit that way." Lance was trying to explain during rehearsal for the Billboard awards that the make-out scene between the two of them was going to have to be changed. "I’m married and we’re going to have a baby next year...it’s in poor taste!"
The producers suggested that the scene be kept pretty much the same except Lance could explain to her after she "attacks" him that he already found the right "chemistry" with someone else.
"What’s wrong? Doesn’t your wife have a sense of humor?" Kathy asked Lance.
"It’s a great skit...and we’re HOT together!" She cuddles up close to him and pants, "Can’t you FEEL it?" Lance smirks. "Come on, can’t you FEEEELLL it?"
"It has taken me a while to win back the *N SYNC fans’ trust, Kathy. I am not going to stand up here tomorrow night and pretend to make-out with you. I realize that most of the television viewers will see it as a skit, and not take it seriously. But, I’m committed to my marriage and I don’t feel comfortable being up here as myself doing the skit."
Kathy threw up her hands, but Lance continued. "If I was Rick from "7th Heaven" and was kissing Lucy that would be different, the viewers would see that as an acting job."
"Why don’t I just explain to you that I can’t be considered for the FOX "Marriage Special" because I’m already married and JC can do this skit." Lance finished what he was telling her, folded his arms and waited for her reply.
"You know Chris is being a whole lot more cooperative than you are." Kathy said, noticeably miffed.
"I’m sorry, but I can’t compromise on this." Lance told her. It took a lot for Lance to stand up to her and raise a stink to the producers. He hated acting like a bratty pop star, but after he and Mercedes endured the scrutiny of the Press during her sister’s trial, there was NO WAY, he was going to do a skit that showed him messing around, even if it was in fun.
To say that the guys were anxious to start their month long vacation was an understatement. Everyone was tired of touring and appearances on behalf of the NSync machine. They wanted to devote some time to their individual lives. Chris and Dani were busy getting their spring line out to Nordstrom. JC was already in the studio, at least mentally. Joey was set to kick back and enjoy a week of nothing but sunshine and chicks. Justin and Britney were making Holiday plans for shopping in NYC. Lance and Mercedes just wanted to get home to Mississippi, sleep in, eat breakfast in bed, and make good use of all the antiques in the house!
(Friday December 22, 2000. Jackson, Mississippi)
"Hey, Darlin’ I’m in here!" Lance yelled out from the Master bathroom where he was busy shaving. Mercedes had just been checking on some last minute details before their party tonight.
She walked in and put her hand on his back, kissing his neck. Lance was standing with a towel wrapped around his waist, wearing nothing else but the cross around his neck. He smiled at her in the mirror. She put her cheek on his shoulder. "Missed you. I was worried that we weren’t going to have time to shower together. What took you so long?"
"It had to do with the caterer and a last minute menu change. If it was just our friends it wouldn’t matter, but I’d like it to be just right for the FreeLance people you’ve invited."
Lance turned and kissed her, getting shaving cream on her face. "How did I ever manage before you came into my life?" He said in his deep, sexy voice.
"Well, between your Mom, your sister and your manager, you had it covered." Lance hugged her and they chuckled.
"Are you going to be alright tonight? I know you’ve had trouble sleeping." Lance asked her quietly.
"Um um." Mercedes said nodding her head. "I laid down for a while when you were out picking up the party favors."
Lance stroked her face. "Good. But, if you feel tired tonight. Just tell me and I’ll send them all home." He leaned in and kissed her again. He smiled and wiped the shaving cream off her face. "Can we take that shower now?"
Mercedes smiled nervously. "Yeah. Let me get the water started and get a robe on."
Lance’s eyes were full of expression, "You’re getting a robe on to take a shower?" He pouted through his smile. "My baby is either cold or very modest all of a sudden."
Mercedes moved out of his arms and went into the bedroom. "Hey? Hey! Where are you going?" Lance followed behind her.
"Go ahead, I’ll be right in." Mercedes said. Lance laid down on the bed.
"Can’t I stay and watch you change?" He put his arms up under his head. He looked comfortable. There was a time Mercedes would have gladly straddled him on that bed and made him wild. But, for a while now she had been feeling...frumpy. She most certainly didn’t feel sexy. Although, she didn’t have stretch marks or varicose veins she had a basketball where her flat tummy used to be. Occasionally her feet and hands were swollen and her breasts were larger! Mercedes had never been this far along in her previous pregnancy....but if she had, she knew what Liam would’ve said and how he would’ve felt. There was his fat, frumpy wife!
The doctor even mentioned to them that Mercedes could stand to gain a little bit more weight these next few weeks before her appointment in January. Lance was concerned over the doctor mentioning she hadn’t gained a lot of weight yet. In fact, he made it their goal to get her to weigh five more pounds before the next visit. Mercedes just knew that his making breakfast for her in the morning and encouraging her to eat a little more than salad and protein for dinner was an effort to have her gain a little weight.
He was beginning to suspect that she was afraid of looking unattractive.
"Mercedes...can you just take a minute to relax, please?" Lance reached for her hand and kissed his way up her arm. She giggled and leaned into his kisses as he started to plant them on her shoulder and neck.
Then, her demeanor turned a little somber and she stopped being playful.
Lance noticed her stiffen and tilted his head, inquisitively. "Baby, what’s wrong?"
"Be, I am as BIG AS A HOUSE already! And I am only 7 months along! Tonight our friends and your business associates will be over here and...I’m sorry." Mercedes looked away, then Lance put his hand on her chin and turned her face back towards him.
"Hey, you look so incredibly SEXY to me right now...you DO remember HOW you got this way?" Lance whispered in her ear, and the closeness of his lips on her earlobe made the hair stand up on her neck. "We made some wild love in a stuck elevator for heaven’s sakes, every time I look at you I think about that passion and I want to go at it all over again."
Mercedes looked at him, shyly smiled and looked into his eyes. "You really mean that don’t you?" She said with noticeable astonishment.
"Even after everything we’ve come to mean to one another, you still carry some scars from him, don’t you?"
Lance felt such pride and happiness when he looked at her...at any time, but seeing her ‘blossom’ this way, was especially wonderful. He just couldn’t imagine any man not feeling this warm, sexy pride in their accomplishment! Well, maybe feeling that way wasn’t politically correct. But, Lance certainly felt she was even more beautiful than before...carrying their baby. And it upset him more than he could express that she was afraid that he might start to find her undesirable because that sh*t Liam had cheated on her and ignored her beauty when she was carrying their baby. Lance felt she positively glowed!
"Mercedes, I am not Liam." Lance had his arm around her. "I believe you’ve never looked more beautiful than you do right now."
"But, it isn’t the same for us, physically, as it was a month or so ago, Be."
Lance squeezed her reassuringly. "I know it’s a little awkward sometimes. We can’t be gymnasts or acrobats right now, but that doesn’t change how you still excite me and satisfy me."
"Does it still satisfy you?"
Lance smiled and nuzzled her neck. "Wasn’t I vocal enough last night? I thought for sure we’d be sending our security detail running across the lawn from the guest house!"
Lance wrapped his legs around her, which loosened the towel around his waist so that it dropped evealing his pubic hair. "Baby, I certainly hope I’ve made my approval loud and clear to you!" Lance placed his hands on her neck underneath her curls. "If I am not satisfying you in some way, PLEASE, I beg you! Let me try again!" Lance smiled mischievously. His lips gently touched hers. Then he opened his mouth and she parted her lips.
Lance moved his legs, and gently laid her down on the bed. His towel fell away as he loamed over her, cautiously stuffing pillows around her to lessen the pressure of his body against hers. He puts his leg between her knees and touches her breast. He begins to smother her in wet, hungry kisses that move steadily downward towards her cleavage. Lance pulls the sash to her robe apart. Underneath she has nothing on, except the swan ankle bracelet. His hand roams from her breast to her abdomen. Lance loves the feel of her belly button protruding out from her tummy. He finds it adorable, in a silly way, and it makes him start to giggle.
Mercedes sits up abruptly and covers herself with her robe.
"I’m sorry, Darlin’. It’s just so cute!" Lance was smiling. "Come on, please I wasn’t laughing at you...I just LOVE the way it feels."
Mercedes pulls the robe together and ties the sash. "We only have a little while before company is suppose to arrive...I’ll use the guest bedroom shower." Lance reaches for her as she gets up from the bed, but she’s out the door before he can stop her.
"Damn." Lance says as he plops back down on the bed. "I’m such an ass."
The door bell rang and the party goers started to arrive before Mercedes came out of the guest bedroom. Lance knew that the wait staff they had hired for the evening would answer the door. He wanted to kiss and makeup with his wife before they went downstairs. Lance rapped on the guest bedroom door.
After a pause, he rapped again. Lance opened the door slowly. Mercedes stood there, wearing a green chiffon dress, slightly off her shoulders, revealing a little more cleavage than he was used to, but he approved. Best of all, her hair was fashioned up and some wayward curls had escaped and were caressing the back of her neck and her cheek. He was speechless.
"Baby. You look beautiful." Lance’s eyes danced on her. Then quietly he asked, "Are you still upset with me?"
Mercedes shook her head, ‘no.’ "I love you too much to spoil your evening." She smiled, "I’ll get you back later." She had a devilish look in her eyes.
"THAT’S my woman." Lance said. He walked over closer to her, and took her hand. Leaning in he whispered in her ear, "Do you promise to torture me later on tonight after the company leaves?"
Mercedes grinned. "That’s my plan."
"Mercedes, God knows I love you." Lance kissed her. As his lips slowly pulled back from hers he added, "But, I need for you to know it too, Baby." He held her for a while, then he brought a box out from his suit coat pocket. "I know we’re suppose to wait until Christmas, Darlin’, but seeing you standing there in that dress, I thought you might like to wear this tonight."
Lance opened the box and inside was a necklace with diamonds and...golden swans. The designer in New York had made it especially for her.
Mercedes started to cry. Lance just held her close. They stood there for an indefinite amount of time. Just holding each other close.
"Hey, Bass!" Darren said as they came down the stairs together.
"You look stunning, Mrs. Bass. How are you feeling?"
"Good, Darren. Merry Christmas!"
He kissed her cheek. "Merry Christmas to you, too. Hey, Bass, Merry Christmas!" Darren shook hands with Lance. Lance was so happy to see him.
"Darren, come into the kitchen. I’ll get us some brews."
After they got into the kitchen, Darren commented on how greatMercedes looked. Lance was beaming. "Darren, after having Mercedes in my life, I can’t imagine anything better than being married to her."
"Are you worried about Fitzpatrick being on the loose?" Darren asked.
"That pisses me off, that he slipped away just when the FBI was coming to arrest him. He probably left the country. But, we have Wes and Lonnie here. When we go to New York at New Year’s we’ll have the FBI along with us...I think we can assume Mercedes and the baby will be safe. That’s my main concern."
"Geez Bass, life isn’t simple for you is it?" Darren offered as he had a Coors and Lance took a non-alcoholic O’Doul’s from the bartender. "But, at least now you have a partner in crime. A beautiful one at that. Cheers, Bass." They clicked beer glasses.
Lance took a sip and smiled, "Darren, what I love the most about my wife is that she could live here in Mississippi as easily as she could live in LA or New York...she fits perfectly into my life."
Sometime later it was Paul and Carrah at the door.
As Mercedes and Lance greeted their guests together, Lance had Darren nearby to hold his beer every time he went to shake some hands. It was the running joke of the night. When Paul and Carrah showed up, Lance had just gotten through talking with Meredith Edwards and her family. Meredith was admiring Mercedes’ Christmas gift from Lance. It shown so brilliantly in the soft candle light of this special evening.
From behind them, Carrah’s voice broke the magic spell. "That beautiful necklace helps take the attention away from the change in your waistline since we last saw you in August."
As he noticed the beautiful smile on his wife’s face slowly fade, Lance gave Carrah a look that could’ve turned Superman to dust. It was pure disgust. He reaches over and intertwines his fingers in Mercedes'. Then, while Paul is making small talk, perhaps in an effort to diffuse the comment Carrah made, Lance leans over and softly kisses his wife’s cheek. Mercedes looks up to him, and Lance winks at her and squeezes her hand.
During the course of the evening, Kerri had an opportunity to speak with Lance over coffee in front of the fireplace.
"I like her Lance." Kerri said. Lance turned in the direction Kerri was facing and knew, without having to look, that she was referring to Mercedes.
"Me too." Lance grinned.
"How’s she doing since they sentenced her sister?" Kerri asked taking a cookie from the tray a member of the wait staff was passing around.
"Thanks. Would you make sure to offer my wife a cookie, please?" Lance said to the staff member as he took a peanut butter blossom. Then he turned his attention back to Kerri. "Um. Pretty much as you might expect. She just can’t believe the things her sister said on the stand. I can’t believe anyone could feel such hatred against Mercedes."
Lance looked back over at her again she was talking with Stacey’s husband, Ford, and raises his cookie to her, encouraging her to have one. "She’s so gentle." Lance smiled warmly towards Mercedes, as she picked up a cookie.
"Did she actually say that she blamed Mercedes for their parent’s deaths?"
Lance nodded as he slowly chewed and swallowed. "They had been in an automobile accident one night on their way to visit Victoria for Parent’s Weekend at Cornell University. They would’ve left much earlier, but Mercedes had a dance recital the same afternoon. Victoria said it was all Mercedes’ fault that their parents died because they had stayed to see her recital and got a late start for Ithaca."
"That’s crazy." Kerri said.
"Exactly. I don’t know if her defense team just came up with that to keep her out of prison, or what. But something weird shaped her whole relationship with Mercedes. Victoria was in charge of her life and she went out of her way to make it as miserable as she could. She never allowed Mercedes to develop friendships when she was in her teens, cut her off from anyone remotely interested in her. It wasn’t until Mercedes turned 18 and went away to college that she slowly came out of her shell and opened up to people.
Unfortunately, Liam wasn’t a healthy relationship for her. He tried to control her, too. And he...well, you knew from the trial that he and Victoria had a long-term affair going on."
"How does she manage to be so sweet and ’normal’?"
"She’s AMAZING! Not just because she forgave her sister and asked the judge to commit Victoria to a mental hospital instead of prison...against the advise of legal counsel." Lance smiled. "But, also there were some incidences on the second leg of the tour and, man, she amazed me! Things I probably shouldn’t tell you about..."
"Oh, no. Now you know you’re going to have to tell me!" Kerri said.
"Well, this one time..." Lance blushed. "No, I can’t."
"Come on, Bass!"
"Ok. You knew that we had been separated due to all these lies from Victoria and Conroy, etc etc. Well, I had kind of...strayed a little..."
"You?" Kerri said truly shocked. "No way!"
"OK, I was drunk and it’s not something I’m proud of, but I’ve already told Mercedes all about it. Man, I am so glad I told her!" Lance coughed, took another drink of his coffee and continued.
"The tour brought us back to the Northeast and this one woman I had an ’encounter’ with at a bar..."
"An encounter?" Kerri asked. "Care to elaborate?"
"Hey, maybe I better make it clear to you that I never had sex with anyone else. OK?"
"Ok Bass. Go on with the story!"
"Anyway, she got backstage with the assistance of Joey Fatone’s brother Steve. That was something this woman had done over the summer, too. I didn’t recognize her, at first, but she made her presence known." Lance cleared his throat. "AHEM" Then, he shook his head. "I was so pissed at Steve-O because he actually thought I’d WANT to see her there! To make a long story short, even after she knew all about this woman, Mercedes was very nice to her. I couldn’t believe it."
"Did she know that this was the one from the bar?"
Lance nodded his head, "Yes, she did! But, I was the one yelling that Steve was a jerk to have brought her back there and here’s Mercedes all concerned about what kind of life she led and who did she have for role models...really sweet. It baffles me to this day that she didn’t seem to dislike that woman. " Lance finished his coffee, "See, she IS amazing!"
"I think you’re both amazing together." Kerri said smiling at her friend.
At the end of the evening, each of the invited guests got a special gift from them that Lance had picked out.
(Later on that evening, when the last of the guests had left.)
"Come here, baby. Leave the clean up to the people you hired to come in tomorrow."
Lance stood underneath the Christmas tree.
"Is there anything special you’d like for Christmas, Be?" Mercedes asked.
"Baby, the only thing I want is you."
"You are so sweet."
"Come here, Baby." Lance said.
Mercedes approached him. Lance asked her, "Do you love me baby?"
"You know I do, Be."
"There ‘s no one here except you and I, Darlin’. Please let me, let me see you naked."
Mercedes laid underneath the Christmas tree, Lance kissed her and took her into his arms. He brought some oversized pillows from their couch. A soft wool blanket that they had brought back from Ireland from the chest in the Great Room and tried to make Mercedes comfortable. He slowly revealed her loveliness. Lance pushed aside her expensive chiffon dress. Lowered the strapless slip. Mercedes lay there naked, with only her necklace and swan ankle bracelet on.
"You are soo beautiful." Lance said as his hands lovingly caressed each curve of her womanliness. As his hands rubbed her belly, there was a ripple. "What’s this?" Lance asked. He looked at Mercedes for the answer, "Is that our baby?"
"That’s our baby." She said. Mercedes took his hand and placed it on her abdomen. "Here, this is probably the feet. Haha. If that’s NOT the feet, he’s going to be a prize fighter...right now I think he’s a soccer player!" Lance’s eyes widen. He puts both hands on Mercedes’ tummy. His jaw drops open.
"I could SEE her move. Not just FEEL her, but actually SEE her!" Lance was spellbound. He looked like a child at Christmas. All wide-eyed and happy. It had definitely been the highlight of his evening...until he turned his attention back to his wife.
"Do you have any idea how much I ache for you?" After a pause, Lance added, "You complete me."
Mercedes reached to grab something under the Christmas tree. Lance saw she was struggling to get a hold of it and leaned over and picked it up for her. "Is this it?" She thanked him and told him it was for him.
"It’s not Christmas yet, Baby."
"I know Be, but believe me, you don’t want to accidentally open this particular gift on Christmas in front of your Granny and your Mom. This is just between us." Mercedes smiled that seductive way again, the one that drives him around the bend.
Lance slashes the wrapping paper off the present. "A book? You want me to do a little reading right now?"
"No. It has illustrations." They giggle.
Lance turns the book and raises his eyebrows, "OOoo, that one looks VERY INTERESTING...can we try them all tonight? Hey, all the women in this book are pregnant." Lance started to laugh at himself, "Duh, I guess that’s the general concept behind the book."
"Yeah. Was it a stupid idea? Be. I just want it to be good for you." Lance placed the palm of his hand on her cheek.
"Baby, it’s always good for me."
Mercedes smiled shyly. Lance unclipped her hair. He started to kiss her as she loosened his tie and unbuttoned his dress shirt.
In the warm glow of the Christmas Tree lights, Mercedes pulled his shirt sleeve down off his arm. As the candle light flickered on the table tops, Lance pulled off his undershirt. He moaned with pleasure as she snuggled up against his chest, licking his neck. Lance lifted her up into his arms, and caressed her breasts with his fingers and lips. His hand reaches down to her clitoris as his mouth manipulates her nipples. The two of them begin to rock. Mercedes touches his penis and his head jerks back in ecstasy.
Lance smiled into her eyes. "Baby, just tell me if you’re not comfortable, ok?" Mercedes nodded her head. Lance starts to breath harder and Mercedes could tell he was losing himself in the act of lovemaking. She felt so alive in his arms! He was ravaging her and she definitely approved of his methods.
Carefully, he entered her and Mercedes almost immediately began to experience her orgasm.
They moved as one together.
