Lyn watched him cross the room. She loved being able to look at him, like a guy. She loved being able to allow herself to notice how attractive he was. She had always give the standard answer when people asked her how she could just be friends with him, ‘He’s JC. I guess I just don’t thin of him in those terms.’ But now, she was able to admit that the first time she saw him, her heart skipped a beat. The first time she heard him sing, her knees got weak.
She watched as he bent to pick up Tipperary. He scratched her behind the ears and kissed the top of her head. Her heart swelled when he did normal things. Thousands of fans all over the world would pass out at the sight of him on stage, but that wasn’t what got Lyn excited. The moments like this, when he was just JC, those were the moments that made him irresistible.
“You’re staring Sweetpea.” He smiled at her.
“I happen to know that.”
“OK. Just thought I’d let you know.” His grin made her heartbeat pick up its pace. “Is there some reason, or are you doing it just because you can?”
“A little bit of both.” She smiled, scooping Blarney up, “The thing is, you look so remarkably sweet right now, I just want to...”
“Lick me?” He smiled.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I would LOVE to lick you!”
“Well have at it! I’m not about to stop you!”
“Oh shush! You didn’t hear the second part of my explanation.”
“Which is?”
“For the first time in my life, I can look at you as an attractive guy. I can look at your eyes and say, ‘Wow!’. I get to look at you differently now, and I like it.”
He smiled and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed, “I understand that comment more than you will ever know. That day we sitting at the piano and you were singing, I couldn’t see you as my best friend Lyn anymore, as much as I tried, I just couldn’t see you just a friend. Seriously, I HAD to kiss you then, or else I would have exploded.”
“I would not have like it if you exploded.”
“I’m glad to hear that...I don’t think I would have liked it much either.”
“Are you ok staying here tonight?”
“The better question is, are YOU ok with it?” He looked at her with serious eyes.
“We’ve slept in the same bed before.” She chewed on her cuticle.
“No. Actually we haven’t. We’ve slept in the same bunk for like three hours, which equates to a nap. I want to go on the record stating that NOTHING will happen, we’re just going to sleep together.”
She looked up with a sparkle in her eye. That statement had put all of her fears at ease and allowed her to relax, “NOTHING will happen...nothing at all?”
“Allyn, this evil streak is frightening.”
“I Can’t HELP it. These things just keep falling out of my head. I don’t have time to stop them!” She clamped her hand over her mouth.
“I don’t want you to stop them. I happen to LOVE your blunt honesty, I’ve always loved it.”
“Why thank you.” She mumbled from beneath her hand.
He leaned forward and pried her hand away from her face. “Sweetpea. I don’t ever want you to stop being completely honest with me. Our relationship has always been based on honesty and I can’t see why this new relationship wouldn’t be the same.”
“You are always the sensible one aren’t you?”
“Right now I’m not feeling very sensible. I’m feeling...um...I’m feeling like we shouldn’t be across the room from one another.”
“We aren’t. Our knees are practically touching.” She smirked.
“OK, you have a point, but I was trying o say I want to be closer.”
“Why didn’t you just say it?”
“ALLYN!” He rolled his eyes and threw his hands in the air.
She giggled, “Sorry.”
She grabbed his hands and pulled him forward, he let Tipperary go as he leaned over Lyn. Blarney followed her sister to the head of the bed, and they curled up between the pillows. JC’s body hovered over Lyn’s his lips just brushing hers. Running her hands over his chest, she smiled as his silk tie fell against her collarbone. “So, I guess we should get some sleep.” He whispered.
“I guess so.” Her heart was pounding hard in her ears.
He pushed himself up with a sigh, “I’m going to run to my room, I’ll be back in a minute.”
“I’ll change.” Her eyes were still closed, and she was leaning back on her elbows. She listened for the door, when it clicked, she flopped onto her back, “GOD please grant me some will power!”
JC was back in a few minutes, dressed in pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, he was dragging his suitcase behind him. “Hi.” He grinned.
“Moving in?” She hopped out of the bathroom.
“I don’t want to have to wake up any earlier than necessary. Lyn, why aren’t you using your crutches?”
“They are more of a pain than a help. I swear, my arms are sore and I can get around a room this size without a problem.”
“If you break your neck, I’m not going to the hospital with you this time.”
“You know very well you’d go, you couldn’t stop yourself.”
“I hate how well you know me.” He grinned.
“No you don’t.” She smiled brightly.
He nodded, “No I don’t.”
He was soaking up the picture of her standing there, her green pajama bottoms were low on her hips they were covered with daisies, which just happened to be his favorite flower. Her white tank top was fitted to right above her navel, exposing a wide band of skin, he ached to reach out and touch it.
“So I guess we should go to bed.” She chewed on her bottom lip.
“I guess so.” When she didn’t move he cocked his head, “Are you POSITIVE you’re ok with this Lynie? I have a perfectly good room right across the hall.”
“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m fine with it. It was my idea.” She was staring at the bed as if it was about to bite her.
“So why are you still standing there?”
“Do you have a side?”
“Do I wha?” He looked down at himself, “I’ve got two sides...”
“Good LORD JC! Do you have a side of the bed that you prefer?” She threw her hands in the air, rolling her eyes.
“OH! A side!” He laughed, “I always sort of...just...sleep in the middle. How about you?”
“I sleep in the middle too.” She looked up at him, down at the bed and giggled. They both dove for the middle of the bed at the same moment, “I have a broken ankle!” The dogs jumped up, each of them barking once as they dove out of the way.
“That get’s you nowhere with me!”
They wrestled around until he had her pinned against the mattress. He smiled down at her, “We could always share the middle.”
Her arms wrapped around his neck, “Love that idea.” He kissed her lightly and they snuggled down into the covers together. The dogs cautiously made their way back to the head of the bed. Lyn rested her head on JC’s shoulder, his arm holding her to his side. Tipperary worked her way into the crook of his elbow, resting her little head on his stomach. Blarney wiggled into what very little space was left between Lyn and JC, burying her nose in the tiny area where Lyn’s neck laid against JC’s chest.
JC chuckled, “Good night ladies. Everyone comfortable?”
Lyn smiled, “Mmm hmm.” She mumbled sleepily. Tipperary licked his hand with her ting pink tongue, before closing her eyes again. Blarney simply let out a little grunt. JC drifted off to sleep with a huge smile on his lips.
Pushing her hair off her cheek, Lyn fought hard to stay asleep. The alarm was blaring, but her bed was warm and cozy. She had no desire to surface from her dreams, they were far to happy. She jumped slightly when the covers rustled, but a smile quickly replaced her frown, when she realized the covers were moving because JC was reaching out to turn off the alarm. His hand immediately went back to cover hers, where it was laying splayed across his chest. She was nestled against his side, with Blarney and Tipperary curled up behind her knees, she didn’t know when they had moved, but she hadn’t moved a millimeter all night.
“Good morning.” He yawned and then kissed her on the forehead.
“Good morning.” She kissed his chest.
“This is a nice way to wake up.” His arm tightened around her back.
“I agree whole heartedly.” She smiled against his chest, kissing him again lightly.
“We have to be out of here in an hour.” He sighed heavily.
“I don’t want to move. We could just send Mark and Maggie, and you and I could just stay right here.”
“Who?” His eyebrows merged together in confusion.
“JC! The people who risked being torn apart so we could have a day alone.” She nudged his leg with her knee.
“Oh yeah, Mark and Maggie. I like Mark and Maggie.” She could feel him grin.
They could hear people starting to move around in the rooms around them. Lyn knew Stasia was flying out at six. She was not nearly as worried about Stasia as she normally was when her friend was leaving. In a very short, two day trip, Stasia had turned a corner, there was life in her eyes again. She seemed to remember that she was not alone. This time, when Stasia flew back to Orlando alone, Lyn felt like she was going to be ok. That was until she heard Lance shout on the other side of the wall.
“Damn it Anastasia! TAKE HIM WITH YOU! HE IS OUT OF HERE!” Lance’s voice grew to a loud rumble.
“OH NO HE ISN’T!” Stasia shot back.
“YOU KISSED HIM! YOU KNOW YOU WANT HIM! STOP ARGUING WITH ME! ”
“SO WHAT IF I KISSED HIM?”
JC looked at Lyn with wide eyes, groaning, “Oh God! Who did she kiss? Should we go break it up?”
“I think we better.” They slipped out of bed and out into the hall where everyone was starting to surface. Everyone was exchanging worried looks. They had all come out to see what was wrong. Justin was wearing his jeans, but hadn’t put on a shirt yet and still had bare feet. Chris was still wear the shorts and t-shirt he’d slept in. Joey was dressed in a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt a baseball hat already on his head. Morgan had on her pajama top and a pair of jeans.
Justin whispered, “What the hell happened? They were fine like four hours ago when went all went to bed. Who did she kiss?” His hand rested on top of his head.
Everyone looked around, shrugging and shaking their heads. Joey tried to peer into Lance and Stasia’s room. Chris whispered, “Can you see them?”
“Uh uh.” Joey shook his head.
“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ARE DOING THIS ANASTASIA!”
“I’M NOT DOING ANYTHING!”
Joey backed away from the door, “Who’s going to go in there?”
Chris pointed at JC and Lyn, “Them.”
Lyn’s eyes grew huge, “US! Why do WE have to do it? JC is capable of going in there on his own!”
JC rolled his eyes, “Thanks Sweetpea.”
“Well it’s just...gah! OK, OK...I’ll go with you...but you’re going first.” She hid behind his back, leaning up on her toes to peer over his shoulder. She moved forward accidentally kicking the back of his leg with her cast.
“OW!”
“Sorry. I thought we were going in.”
JC reached back and took her hand in his, “I wish you would have brought your crutches.” He whispered.
“Why?”
“We could have used them as weapons.”
“Oh.”
“STOP POWER TRIPPING AND I WILL HAVE NOTHING TO ARGUE ABOUT!” Stasia’s tone was sharp.
JC and Lyn inched toward the door, which was still open just a crack. “I AM NOT POWER TRIPPING! YOU ARE BEING A MONSTROUS BRAT!”
“LOOK WHO’S TALKING JAMES!”
“GAH!”
“You called me Anastasia first.” Her voice was pouty.
JC cleared his throat, “Guys?” He walked into the room, with Lyn hopping along right behind him, still crouching down behind his back, looking through the narrow space between JC’s arm and side. As soon as the arguing couple came into full view, JC and Lyn both burst into laughter.
Stasia was flat on her back still in the bed, the covers coming up to her waist, with Lance straddling her on top of the blankets. He was dressed in pajama bottoms, and she was wearing the matching top. One of his hands was pressing her shoulders into the mattress, the other was pushing a stuffed dog at her. She was pushing up against his chest, and squirming, trying to free her legs from the blankets pinning her down. They were both smiling brightly, and Jake was curled up on a chair, trying to get more sleep, one paw was draped over his head as if he was trying to blow out the playful argument..
Stasia was laughing hard and her eyes were dancing, Lance’s were doing the same dance smiling down at the woman he loved. Lyn wrapped her arms around JC’s waist, sighing. He covered her hands with his.
Lance and Stasia both turned to face their friends, “Hi guys.”
“Morning.”
“What are you doing?”
“Coming in here to make sure you weren’t killing one another. It appears you’re both alive, which is good.” JC raised an eyebrow.
“We wouldn’t hurt one another.” Stasia leaned up on her elbows looking at him as if he was insane.
“Stasia honey, it’s three thirty in the morning and you two were yelling at one another...rather loudly.” JC pointed out.
“Dis we wake you guys? Never thought about the time.” Lance said shrugging.
“Obviously, but it’s ok, we were all up...and now, so is the rest of the hotel. Who was Stasia kissing?”
Lance held out the stuffed dog, “Jake Jr.” Grinning, his lop-sided grin.
JC shook his head, “You guys are crazy.”
“Crazy about each other.” Stasia said dramatically. Lance slowly turned to look down at her, they both began laughing hysterically, he fell on top of her, hugging her tightly to his chest. They laughed until they could barely breathe.
JC and Lyn just looked at one another, not quite seeing what was so incredibly funny, but happy to see the two of them happy. They hadn’t seen them both so completely happy in quite a while. JC smiled brightly, “What’s with the dog?”
Lance looked up, “I bought it for her, so while I have Jake, she’ll have a Jake too, but she wants me to keep him because Jake likes him and thinks he’s a real dog...who just sleeps a lot.”
The crowd gathering in the hall, started to make their way into the room. Dani was rubbing her eyes sleepily, “What’s going on?”
“Nothing, they were just playing some sort of freaky foreplay game.” JC grinned evilly as the stuff dog slammed into the side of his head. “OW!”
“Jackass!” Lance smiled.
“I’m not the one arguing over a stuffed dog at three something in the morning.”
“Hey, everyone is out of bed, we’ll be on time for once, we did you a favor.” Stasia giggled.
“Gee, THANKS!” Lyn teased rolling her eyes.
“OH! I see how it is GIMPY!” Stasia stuck her tongue out.
“GIMPY? Snapdragon, did she just call me GIMPY?”
“Yes dear.” JC laughed.
Lyn crossed the rest of the room in two large hops, knocking Lance off of Stasia and onto the floor, and getting Stasia in an impressive headlock. Lance looked up at JC dazed, “And we call Millie feisty.”
JC simply shrugged. Joey squeezed forward into the room, rubbing his hands together, “CHICK FIGHT!” Both women looked up at him, “Um....girls...it was a joke!” His eyes grew wide as both of them lunged at him, knocking him flat on his back on the second bed. The both grinned, high fived one another and then fell back on the bed in a giggling heap hugging one another.
“They are never going to let us back in this hotel.” Justin laughed.
“You better watch the comments, they will tag team your but.” Chris pointed out.
After a few minutes, they all went back to their rooms to finish packing. Closing Lance and Stasia’s door as they left, JC helped Lyn back to their room . “Three o’clock in the morning and they are all goofy.” He laughed. “Actually, you were pretty goofy too.” He observed.
“I don’t know what has come over me lately.”
“The glow of a happy relationship?” He smiled and pulled her down to sit on his lap.
Wrapping her arms around his neck she looked at him thoughtfully, “Could be.” She nodded.
“Are you going to ride with me?” He kissed her neck.
“I wish I could, but I’m riding with Lance, we’ve got a lot to get done.” She Sighed.
“Will it take all day?” He rested his chin on her shoulder.
“I don’t know, it depends on how well it goes. We have a lot to do, but it should not take all day. Why do you ask?” She raked her hands through his hair.
“I was hoping to hang out with you. We don’t get to spend enough time together.”
“Oh yeah. It’s not as if we spend every day in the same space, or that we slept in the same bed last night.” She rolled her eyes playfully, “You are SO neglected.”
“I’m glad you see it my way.” He nodded.
“You are horrible. I’ll tell you what. Lance and I will work for a while and then when we stop for the dogs, I’ll switch buses.”
“I knew you’d see it my way.” He had a broad grin.
“You my dear, are going to be a bad influence on me aren’t you?”
“I’m sure going to try.”
She stood up, “I’m getting in the shower.” She grabbed all of the stuff for her shower.
When she started the water, she began humming, steam filling the air, she began to lather her body with her favorite bath gel. Humming her favorite song, she jumped when she heard JC humming along, very close by. “JC?”
“Hmm?”
Her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped, “Um...what are you doing?”
“Shaving.” He answered her with a chuckle.
“Oh.”
“Would you like me to leave?” His voice was full of laughter, “It’s just that we spent a lot of time talking and goofing off in Lance and Stasia’s room, if I don’t shave while you’re in the shower, I won’t be able to shave at all. Rumor has it you like it better when I have a clean shave.”
“You can stay.” She smiled to herself.
“Thanks. What happened to the song?” She heard the razor scraping against the stubble on his chin.
“You scared me. What was I humming?”
“What do you think?” He teased.
She laughed as she began singing again, “Your love...is better than ice cream...Better than anything else that I've tried...and your love...is better than ice cream...everyone here know how to fight.
JC softly sang the next part of the song, “And it's a long way down...it's a long way down...it's a long way...down to the place where we started from.”
They were both laughing as the kept singing, “Your love...is better than chocolate...better than anything else that I've tried...and your love is better than chocolate...Everyone here knows how to cry...and it's a long way down...it's a long way down...it's a long way...down to the place where we started from.” They laughed hard, it seemed very odd to be singing in the bathroom while they were getting ready.
“Do you remember th first time you sang that song Lynie?” He looked at the shower curtain.
“Sure. I sang it in high school for the choir concert.”
“I melted that day.”
“You melted?”
“You have no idea how good your voice is Sweetpea.”
“Melted?”
“You make me melt a lot. Right now for instance. The room smells like you. This amazing almond scent, the sent that is uniquely you.” He inhaled the sweet smell, smiling.
“Almond Ambrosia.”
“Ambrosia?”
“That’s the name of this stuff.” Her hand went out though the curtain, holding the bottle out for him to read.
He took the bottle from her hand, “We are buying GALLONS of the stuff. Where do we get it?”
“H20+. I love that place. You know how Stasia always smells like vanilla?”
“I’d never thought about it, but now that you mention it, she does, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah, her vanilla stuff is always right next to my almond stuff. Same store. We found it together, I think we were here in New York at the time.”
“I’m buying stock in that company, because the next time I see one of those stores, I cleaning them out they will not have a drop of this stuff left.”
She laughed hard as she turned off the water, “JC, I have enough to hold me over for quite a while.”
“But what if they discontinue it or something? That would be a crime.” He put a towel into the hand peeking out from behind the curtain.
“Trust me. I have plenty.”
“Where do you keep it?” She laughed, “In my suitcase.”
“I’m checking to make sure you have enough to us to the next city! You honestly have no idea how much I love this stuff.” His breath caught as she pushed the curtain back, wearing nothing but the towel he had just handed her.
“If you like that.” She pointed at the shower gel she had handed him earlier, “You’ll love this.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of lotion.
“LOTION!” He smiled.
“Thought you’d like that.” She grinned. “You need to get in the shower.”She left him standing there, grinning like a mad man.
When JC emerged from his very cold shower a few minutes later, Lyn was just zipping up the back of her dress. It was black, and covered with small gray and pale blue flowers. It was sleeveless and showed off her toned arms. It fit loosely and fell to just above her knees. She didn’t realize JC was standing behind her watching her as she hopped across the floor, tying a black sweater around her shoulders.
She sat down hard on the edge of the bed, grabbing her shoe. “Your love is better than ice cream...hmm...hmm...hmm...”
She stood up and ran a towel over her curls again, flipping her head upside down, she saw JC smiling brightly, “Hi.”
“Hi.” He crossed the room to go dig in his suitcase. As he bent over to find his clothes, the towel began to slip, “WOAH!” He grabbed the terrycloth.
“Darn! I was so close to getting the view MILLIONS would pay to see.”
“Hey now!” He laughed.
“Sorry, momentary lapse in judgment.” She grinned. She quickly spray some sort of yellowish-green stuff on her hair.
“What the devil is that?” He stared at her.
“It is curl controller. It’s called UpTight, Bed Head makes it. Good stuff, you wouldn’t understand, since you have straight hair. JUSTIN would appreciate this stuff.”
“I see.” He smirked.
“Snapdragon...as much as I like this towel look, you may want to get dressed before we leave.”
“Yes dear.” He rolled his eyes.
“I’m going to talk to Lance and Stasia while you get dressed. I guess I’ll take the girls out too.”
“You know what? There are way to many fans out there right now,” He glanced out the window at the street. “See if Dre is willing to do it.”
“He doesn’t need to do that.”
JC walked to the door and stuck his head out into the hall, “DRE!”
“Yeah J?” Dre walked over.
“Lyn thinks she should go down on the street to take the dogs out.” JC smiled at his huge friend.
“Oh now THERE’S a good idea.” Dre rolled his eyes.
“That’s what I was telling her.” JC nodded.
Dre bent down, “Come here pretty girls.” Both puppies ran over to him. “Leashes.” He stuck his hand in the air. JC slapped both leashes into his hand.
“Thank you Dre.” Lyn kissed the top of his head.
“Not a problem.” Dre smiled as he walked toward the elevators.
Lyn hopped down to Lance and Stasia’s door, “Hey guys.”
Stasia glanced up from the fruit salad she was eating and smiled at her friend, “KILLER DRESS!”
“Thanks!” Lyn smiled.
“Um...Lyn, didn’t they give you crutches when you were in the hospital.” Lance looked up from the floor where he was playing tug-of-war with Jake and laughed as she hopped by. He held up his hand to help her to steady herself as she balanced on one foot.
“Pain in the butt.” She shrugged. “I can’t wait to loose this thing.” She swung her leg out, displaying her cast.
“Don’t you have like four weeks left?” Stasia popped another grape into her mouth.
“GAH! Something like that.” She rolled her eyes.
“You are awfully chipper for four o’clock in the morning.”
“It seems that we all are.” Lyn pointed out.
“True.” Stasia nodded.
“Lance, I have all of the paperwork we need to work on today. I assume we are going to ride your bus?”
“Yeah, It that is the easiest thing to do.”
Lyn looked over at Stasia, “Couldn’t you still be sleeping?”
“Nah. Ron and I are going to leave at the same time as you guys, we’ll be at the airport a little early, but I didn’t want to miss saying goodbye to you guys.”
“Well aren’t you a sweetheart?” Lyn smiled and hugged Stasia.
“HEY! Watch the fruit!” Stasia grinned.
“I do not understand how you avoid being four hundred pounds.”
“It’s the running. If I didn’t run, I probably would be.”
“OH! Watermelon!” Lyn snatched a piece of melon from Stasia’s plate.
Lance laughed, “You’re taking your life into your own hands there Lyn. Stasia is very serious about her food.”
“I can share.” Stasia stuck her tongue out and offered Lyn her plate.
“Why thank you Stasia!” Lyn grinned down at Lance.
“You two are WICKED together. I think we’re going to have to separate you guys. When Millie is back full time, you are only allowed to spend twenty minutes a day together.”
“Harry! You are NOT the boss of us!” Stasia narrowed her eyes at him.
He smiled in challenge, “Well, TECHNICALLY...”
“JAMES LANCE BASS!” Stasia was standing and glaring down at him, but there was a glint of joy in her eyes.
“Well, it’s true.” He grinned sheepishly.
“You’re pushing it mister.”
“I was smart enough to hire both of you.”
“HA! Momma and Stacy hired me, and I was smart enough to hire Lyn. YOU did NOTHING! NOTHING I TELL YOU!” Now she couldn’t hide her smile.
“I didn’t fire either of you.”
“You are horrible.” She laughed.
He pulled on her arm until she sat in his lap, “But you love me anyway.”
“Lord help me, I do.” She kissed him.
“You can’t help yourself.”
“Nope.”
“Lord knows it’s mutual.” He kissed her again.
“Guys!”
“Sorry Lyn.” They both grinned up at her.
“You know what, I love it, I really do.”
“That’s because you found the same thing.” Stasia winked at her.
Lyn’s cheeks flushed and she stood up, “Could be.” She hopped out of the room listening to Lance and Stasia laugh.
She was bouncing out into the hallway as Joey was closing his door, balancing his luggage as well as Angela’s. He dropped everything and scooped Lyn up into his arms. He ran into her room where JC was tying his shoes, “JC, she was trying to escape, I caught her hopping down the hall, figured you’d want her back.”
“Joe, I owe you big! I was just looking for her under the bed. I was very afraid I’d lost her! What can I do to thank you?” JC smiled as Joey dumped Lyn into JC’s lap.
“All you have to do to thank me is, never loose her again.” Joey smiled.
“I am holding on tight!” JC squeezed Lyn to illustrate his point.
“Never buddy...never let go.” Joey pointed at JC as he left the room.
JC and Lyn looked at one another and smiled.
Lance ran his hand over his face, “How long have we been looking at these numbers?”
“Ten years.” Lyn grinned.
“Feels like.”
Lyn looked down at Blarney, sleeping peacefully in her lap. Lance looked down at Jake in his own lap. “How much are you loving being a dog owner?” Lyn grinned at Lance.
“Dog owner?” Lance asked.
“Jake.”
“I guess I don’t really think of this guy as mine.” He looked down at Jake, who instantly stretched, stood on his lap and licked his face.
“He seems to think you are.”
“Yeah, but he’s...Millie’s...geeze, Noah’s really.”
“Her brother?”
“Yeah, Jake was Noah’s. When he and Nik died, Stasia took him.”
“So he was their’s...he belonged to one loving couple...” She looked him square in the eye, “...and now he belongs to another.”
“Wow.”
“Wow what?” She smiled.
“I didn’t...I never thought...Lyn...”
“Lance, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t believe the way you think.”
“What did I do?” Lyn looked at him with a very confused look on her face.
“Do you honestly think he’s...ours? I mean like, both of ours?”
“God YES! Lance, face it...” She laughed, “You guys are forever. I know it, JC knows it...ok, we all know it, and Jake seems to know it.”
He looked back down at Jake and was quiet for a long moment, “Lyn...”
“Hmm?” She grinned at him.
“I’m going to marry her.”
“Yeah, I know.” She smiled.
“You do?”
“Yep.”
He looked at the huge stack of paperwork they had finished and sighed, “Have you given any thought to what we said the other night, about staying on with us?”
“I’ve thought about it...but do you need an answer right now?”
“You can have as long as you need. The offer will still stand...four years from now. You’ve been good for us.”
“Thanks.” She smiled.
Busta came charging up the aisle with Dani’s shoe in his mouth. Korea was following him and Dani was right behind them, “Come back here you BRAT!”
Lyn reached down and grabbed the dog, prying the shoe from his mouth, “It’s cover wit drool, but ok.” She held the shoe out to Dani.
Dani took the dog in one hand and the shoe in the other. She was shook the shoe in his face, “BAD DOG! BUSTA! HOW COULD YOU? THESE ARE NEW!” Busta wiggled and Dani set him down, “No remorse.”
“Not all dogs can be as perfect as these two.” Lyn motioned to Jake and Blarney, both of whom were still fast asleep on their owner’s laps.
“There will be a day when you eat those words.” Dani pointed a finger at Lyn, smiling and laughing.
The bus started to slow down and Mike shouted over his shoulder, “Rest stop.”
When they pulled into the rest area, and the bus stopped, Mike chuckled at the sound of four leashes snapping onto the dogs collars. They all climbed off of the bus and Lyn noticed JC and Justin hadn’t gotten off their bus. Lance knew she was looking for JC and he smiled holding out his hand, “I’ll take her.”
“Thank you.” Lyn smiled handing him Blarney’s leash.
She climbed up the stairs leaning her crutches against the couch in the front of the bus and she hopped toward the back of the bus, checking all of the bunks. She opened the door to the lounge and smiled Justin was sprawled out on the couch with his arm flopping off the edge. JC was curled up on the floor, with Tipperary tucked in the warm space between his chest and arms. JC’s head was propped up on a pillow and he and Tipperary were both snoring quietly in unison.
Lyn smiled happily, she hopped over to Justin, “Hey.” She lifted his arm and put it on his chest.
“Ughnf.” Justin smacked his hand down on his face.
“Justin, we’re at a rest stop.”
“Mgnfnga.” He rubbed his face.
“You can sleep if you want, but I’d suggest you get up and move around.”
“Going.” He had some clarity in his voice as he smirked up at her.
“What movie were you watching?” She nudged him with her knee, he sat up and she sat down next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and he leaned his head down on hers.
“I think we were watching ‘Remember The Titans’, but I feel asleep during the opening credits. I doubt JC lasted much longer, and Tippy over there was out before we got on the bus.”
“My family is from Tipperary. My grandparents are still there, my parents have a house there. That’s where they were married...and I was born.”
“You were born in Ireland?”
“Yeah. They were on vacation, I was early...very early...so they went back to see their parents before I came, and BAM! I decide to show up early. We came back when I was six weeks old.”
“I never knew that.”
“Not exactly something that comes up in normal conversation.” She shrugged.
“That makes you even cooler.” He laughed, “So are you going to wake up Sleeping Beauty?”
“I think I should. Tipper...Tippy should go out.”
Justin took a deep breath, “JC! GET UP!”
JC groaned, “Huh?”
“Rest stop.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll take the dog. Tippy! Come here sweetie!” Justin scooped the dog up and left JC and Lyn together.
“Good morning.” Lyn smiled.
JC’s eyes popped open, “I didn’t know you were here.”
“I came looking for you.” She smiled at him.
“You found me...now what?”
“I was thinking you’d come over here, and then we’d kiss, and then we’d go retrieve our dogs from our friends. After that, I’ll grab my stuff from Lance’s bus and join you on yours...then...ok...that’s all I’ve got, do you want to help me out with this plan at all?”
JC crawled across the floor kneeling in front of her, “And then...the four of us curl up and take a nap.” He took her face between his hands and kissed her.
“And the plan goes into action.” She smiled.
~Chapter Fifteen~
