Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 12
Late June 2004...
"She won't stop crying," Fe said as Britney walked back into the dressing room after sound check.
"Did you try to feed her?" Britney asked, looking at her watch. It was too early for her to be hungry.
"Yeah, but she didn't want the bottle."
Britney took Mackenzie from her and her sobs died down a little bit as Britney walked around the room, bouncing her up and down and humming to her.
"Maybe she's gassy," Britney said.
Fe shrugged. "I don't know Boo. I'm going to take a break if it's okay with you."
Britney gave her a sympathetic look. "Yeah Fe...I'm sorry, thanks."
Fe nodded and left the room.
"Oh Mackenzie what are we going to do with you?" she asked as she sat down and put Mackenzie over her shoulder.
The crying seemed to slowly die down.
"Maybe you just wanted your mommy, huh? I'd like to think that," she chuckled.
She looked at the papers that were on the coffee table. Fe always left her her schedules for the next couple of weeks. She also got Melinda to send her Justin's schedule as well.
"When's daddy coming to see us?" she wondered flipping the page over.
She sighed in disappointment. "God, not for another five days. This sucks Mackenzie."
Her cell phone rang so she quickly picked it up so that she wouldn't disturb Mackenzie again.
"Hello?" she answered, not even looking at the display.
"Hey."
"Hey....I just noticed we won't see you for another five days," she pouted.
"Yeah, I was just thinking about that. How's everything going?" Justin asked.
"It's okay. I'm tired and I feel bad for Fe....she's not my babysitter, she's my assistant."
"I thought your mom was supposed to be there."
"Well Jamie Lynn got sick so she didn't want to leave her with daddy so she stayed in Kentwood."
"You should have told me, I can get my mom to be there."
He rubbed his forehead. He was trying to think of what was coming up in the schedule for the next week. They had too many TV appearances scheduled that were really important to them otherwise he'd scrap them to be with Britney and the baby.
"I hate to bother her....."
"Brit, it's her grandbaby too. She loves spending time with Mackenzie. Want me to call her right now?"
"Let me call mama and see how much longer she thinks she'll be. So, why did you call, just to check up on me?" she teased.
"No, actually my mom found another candidate for a nanny. She said she's got really good references...."
"They've all had good references, Justin."
"No, this one was a nanny to a baby who's mom was on one of those traveling Broadway musicals....she's used to traveling," he said excitedly.
"Oh okay.....well tell me what you think."
"I might have mom do it. This woman is in LA and I won't be back there for a couple of weeks."
"That's fine," Britney sighed.
"I wish I could be there right now. What's Mackenzie doing?"
"She was very very fussy with Fe but she's calmed down now. She's lying on my chest falling asleep."
"How much time until you have to get ready for your show?" he asked, looking down at his watch.
"Ummmm about two hours or so."
"Okay....get some rest. Give Mackenzie a big kiss for me."
"I will," she smiled.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
She hung up the phone and sighed.
Things had been so confusing between them. They stayed together every night during her rehearsals, whether she stayed at his house, using Mackenzie sleeping as an excuse or when she'd rehearse late Justin would bring Mackenzie over to her house and he'd stay the night.
She didn't really know where it left them, though. She'd been on tour for a few weeks and he was able to be there for only about six or seven days of it. She missed him like crazy and she knew that Mackenzie missed him.
As for the physical intimacy between them, well that happened a couple more times. There were just times when they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. But, they never talked about it. About what it all meant to them.
Mackenzie sneezed. "Oh God bless you," Britney said.
She held up her phone and found her mom's cell phone number and dialed it.
"Hey sweetie."
"Hey mama.....what ya doin'?"
"I'm on my way to get your sister some medicine. I finally talked her into letting me take her to the doctor today. What about you?"
"I'm sitting here, holding your almost asleep granddaughter. She was being fussy for Fe," she said, screwing up her nose.
"Awww, I hate to hear that. It makes me feel bad."
"I know....but it's not your fault. Hey, what I wanted to know is if you thought you were coming within the next couple of days because if you aren't then I'll have Lynn join me."
"Well, the doctor said to give Jamie Lynn's virus a couple of days....I could leave her with your father...."
"No, he won't take care of her like you would. I'll just call Lynn and you can fly out next time. How does that sound?"
"I wish I could be there," she said sadly.
"I know mama....I do too, but sometimes you just can't," Britney sighed.
"So, Justin....how is fatherhood treating you?" Kelly from the Live with Regis and Kelly show asked him.
"It's going well," Justin said, nodding his head.
"Can I just tell everyone, I got to see a picture of his baby backstage and she's adorable," Kelly said to the audience.
"Thank you." Justin chuckled and nodded and Chris patted him on the back.
"Now, how do you and Britney work that out? Do you take turns on who has her when or...." Regis asked.
"Well right now it's kind of weird because she's on tour and we're out here promoting so there's not a lot of time or opportunity to share time with her so Britney has her and I'll just try to visit her as much as I can."
"Then you guys are going on tour right?" Kelly asked, pointing at the group members.
They all nodded and JC spoke up. "Yeah, we're hoping to tour starting in August, I think it is...."
"Well, I love this album, everyone should go out and buy it. It's got an old school vibe to it, is that how you describe it?" Kelly asked, looking at the CD in her hand.
They continued to talk about the CD and then performed a song.
Whew, one more interview done.
"That one wasn't so bad, was it?" Joey asked Justin as they walked back to their dressing room. He put his hand on Justin's shoulder.
"No, it wasn't. It's the radio interviews I'm more worried about. Those stupid DJ's feel like they can ask anything," he mumbled.
When they got back to the dressing room Justin checked his voicemail. One message. He smiled as he listened to it. He could hear Mackenzie cooing in the background.
"Must be Britney," Lance joked.
Justin hung up and dialed her cell phone number as he sat down on the couch.
"Hey, I'm so glad you called," Britney said breathlessly. He could hear Mackenzie crying in the background and his heart skipped a beat.
"Why, what's wrong?" he asked, sitting up straight.
"My schedule got changed a little bit and I won't be able to get in touch with you until I see you. Like you literally caught me a few minutes before I won't have access to a phone for two days."
Justin rubbed the back of his neck. "Why, what's going on?"
"Things with the schedule just got mixed up so in order to not cancel anything I have to get a bunch of promotions and contests in. It's going to be crazy."
Her voice was cracking, he knew she was upset about this, but he also knew she wouldn't want to disappoint fans.
"What about Mackenzie?"
He couldn't help but worry about his daughter.
"Mama's finally here but your mom was such a big help. I couldn't thank her enough."
"God....well, okay. I'll be there before you know it."
"I know," she said softly.
The crying died down, but he could tell it was because she left the room.
"I've missed you, so much. This was way longer than a week, Justin," she kidded him.
He laughed. "Yeah, I know but this was the longest okay? It won't be like this anymore....I promise."
"You better," she giggled. "I think we have some things we need to talk about when you get here."
Justin raised his eyebrows out of curiosity. "Okay....care to give me an idea?"
"No, I don't want to jinx it. We'll talk when you get here. Okay," she yelled loudly. "Fe just told me I have to get going. Have a safe trip."
"Of course. Go get 'em tiger," he laughed.
"I love you."
"Me too, bye."
"Bye," she said before she hung up.
"I wuv you," Chris said once Justin hung up the phone. Then he proceeded to make kissing noises.
Justin rolled his eyes and threw a throw pillow at him.
"You guys just need to kiss and make up....get it over with because it's going to happen," Lance said, picking up the pillow off of the floor and resting on the arm of the couch.
"Well, we have made up.....and we've kissed," Justin shrugged.
"You know what I mean."
"Well, we'll see."
His thoughts drifted to her wanting to talk to him. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing....or a bad.
