Chapter 11
Ashley wrinkled her nose as Justin held up another outfit.
"What's wrong with this one?" He whinned.
"Justin...our child will not wear leather pants! I can't believe anyone ever made that anyway!" She shook her head and shifted her weight to her other leg. "Babe, can we just go to Gap or JCPenny's or something? I want our baby to look normal...not like a reproduction of it's father at the VMA's." Now she was whining.
Behind the couple Mike laughed. He had sat back and listened as Justin threw out radical ideas, and Ashley rejected them.
Justin sighed. "Alright, let's go to Gap..." He picked up their bags and walked out the door with Ashley and Mike in tow.
"Is it so much to ask, for my baby to have a normal life?" She asked Mike as the hurried to keep up with Justin's long stride.
"With a father like that? Ha! good luck hunny. No....I think he's just excited right now, and he'll understand sooner or later that Gucci isn't a common label for babies to wear."
"I hope so. I'm gonna hafta slip out of the house when he's asleep and go shopping at Wal-Mart just so I feel like a normal person." She giggled as the turned into the Baby Gap.
Ashley made Justin sit down in a chair, while she awwed and cooed over different clothes. She picked out things she liked, and would hold them up for Justin. She didn't care what his reaction was, she would keep it anyway, just to piss him off. Justin would just smirk and shake his head, this would be interesting.
"OK, I've found what I like. You can pick something out now...and Justin...no leather!!" She teased.
"Whatever..." He smiled at her. Justin took the clothes from Ashley's hands and paied for them. He then handed the heavy bag to Mike.
"Do I look like your personal servant?" Mike quipped as the left the store.
"What? You don't want Ashley to carry them do you? I mean, c'mone man, she's pregnant for God's sake." Mike rolled his eyes, and kept his mouth shut...Justin was lucky he had his hands full.
"Ohh! Sneakers!" Justin pulled Ashley into the store and ignored her protests.
"Justin, I thought we agreed that this shopping trip was for the baby...not it's father!" She knew her breath was wasted, but it didn't hurt to try.
"I know, but I need some new shoes."
"New shoes! Justin you have over 450 pairs of shoes already!!! You don't need more, we already need more closet space!" Mike giggled behind her and she threw him a dirty look. He stopped.
"Aww come on....we can look for baby shoes too." He offered, thrying to justify this stop.
"Justin, they don't make baby shoes at Foot Locker. And Michael Jordan doesn't have a line of 'Air Jordans' for kids either." Just then Justin's eyes lit up.
"Hey....that's a good idea. I should talk to him about that."
"God No!" She whinned. They had been shopping for two hours non-stop. Justin was worse then most women, and the part that made it worse was that Justin had the money to spend, and he knew it too.
"I'm kidding babe. We can go now...you look pale too. Let's get something to eat." He placed his hand on the small of her back and led her out of the store, forgetting all about his shoes. Mike lagged behind, and prayed that Justin was done. He was getting too old for this.
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Mike dropped the bags into Justin's trunk. "You tow going any place else?" He asked as she slamed the trunk down.
"I just wanna go home..." Ashley spoke up. She was tired, and worn down and all she wanted was sleep.
"No, I think were just going home. Thanks Mike, I owe you one."
"Boy, you owe my your life. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't forget you have a meeting, and tehn some promo stuff in Miami." Mike hollared as he walked off, and Justin and Ashley got into the car.
"Thanks right, I forgot about that. Oh, Johnny wants you to come with me tomorrow. We're having a big meeting with everyone about what we're gonna tell people about the baby." He threw it out as if it were nothing, and Ashley knew he was anxious about it.
"Don't worry babe, it'll be fine." She placed her hand on his and he smiled at her.
"I know. Let's go home." He put the car in gear and sped off towards his house.
~*~
The next day Justin and Ashley rode in silence to the studio. Justin was nervous, and Ashley was tired. She knew better than to say anything to him, becuase in his anxiousness, he begam agitated easily. She felt bad for the executives at Jive, becuase Justin could bite.
They pulled into the parking lot, and Justin grabbed ehr hand on the way in. She smiled at the gesture, feeling a bit better that Justin did need her support, and he wasn't afraid to ask for it.
When they got inside, Justin had a feeling of de j'ai vu, except with more people. Johnny, Bill, the rest of *NSYNC and three more Jive executives were all seated at a long oval table. There were two empty seats for Ashley and Justin, and he hastily sat down.
"Glad you couls make it Justin. Ashley, how have you been?" Johnny asked from across the table.
"I've been good, thanks. And yourself?" She felt odd, being so formal with Johnny, but she knew that they had to make an impression on the execs.
"Fine thanks. Now, let's get started." Johnny opened the floor to the Jive guys, and they proceded to talk.
"As you all know, this meeting is about Justin and Ashley, and their having a baby. Now, I don't have a problem with it personally, because they're both adults, and this was a choice they decided to make. but, some people here at Jive feel that letting this imformation into the public will cause somewhat of an outburst. I'll let Bill handle those issues."
Ashley felt Justin tense, and she squeezed his hand under the table.
"Now, I talked to a few people, and they said their concern about this was the fact that Justin and Ashley aren't married. They said that parents of fans might find that wrong, and might ban their childern from buying *NSYNC merchendise, and we don't want Ashley getting any hate mail from over zelous fans." Bill avoided looking at Justin, knowing that last time he tried to talk, he got his head bitten off.
Justin was about to get up and start yelling, but Ashley sensed that and she leaned over and whispered into his ear. "Calm down babe. You don't need to make a scene, and he's not accusing you of anyhting, he's just stating the facts." She lightly kissed the soft skin of his ear, and felt him relax.
"What do you propose we do?" He asked, his voice calm.
"I say that you don't tell anyone that you don't have to. Until you decided what you're going to do. It's still early, and lucky for you, Ashley isn't in the public eye unless she's with you all, so it should be easy enough to keep this a secret." Justin watched Ashley as she thought it over.
"I don't want this to be blown out of proportion. I know what people will think of me if this gets out. Now, I know most of the hate will be thrown at me becuase Justin is who he is, and everybody loves him." She smirked at Justin and got a few chuckles before continuing. "So, I would like to keep quiet as long as possible. No one should know about it now, besides our families and you all, and if anyone does get wind, we can just deny. For a while. Until then, I don't want any of this out to the public." She knew she had decided without Justin, but she knew it was ok when she felt his reassuring hand hold hers under the table.
"Now that wasn't so hard now was it?" One of the men asked. He seemed satisfied with what had gone on, and he was getting ready to leave. "This lady has a very good head on her shoulders and I feel that any decisions about this should be made with her consent. She is, of course, the mother of this baby. I know Justin, and I know he's a responsible young man, so I know that when I think that everything will be under control, that my feelings should be justified. Thank you all for your time today, and it was nice meeting you." The man stood up, shook hands with everyone, and then left. Soon followed by the other two.
~*~
Outside the door Jordan waited, listening to what was going on. He smiled to himself. This was perfect...
Chapter 12
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