Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 14
Early July 2004...
Justin sat on a chair next to the pool. He watched as a few kids splashing each other. He had found the gym but realized he didn't have the right clothes on to work out so he punched the punching bag a few times to get his aggressions out.
Now here he sat, away from Britney....away from Mackenzie. This isn't why he was here.
He ran.
He got scared when she wanted to open up to him. He needed to accept whatever it was she was going to tell him. He couldn't keep running.
With that in mind he slapped his hands on his thighs and stood up.
When he got back to the room Britney was relaxed on the couch with Mackenzie sitting on her lap, looking around.
She turned when she heard the door open.
"Did you find the gym?" she asked, looking him up and down.
"Yeah but I'm not really dressed for it," he said, smiling as he looked himself up and down.
She nodded and turned back around to face the baby.
Justin ran a hand through his hair before going around the couch to the other side and took a seat next to Britney, but Mackenzie was facing away from him.
Mackenzie heard a noise and she leaned her head straight back and Justin started making peek-a-boo faces at her, which made her giggle.
Britney turned her around and then handed her to him.
"Here, you can take her," she said.
Once Justin had her Britney stood up and walked away.
"Brit...."
The door to the bathroom slammed shut, which made Mackenzie jump a little and look up at Justin with wide eyes.
"Daddy made mommy mad," he said.
She cooed and put her fist in her mouth.
Britney stayed in the bathroom about twenty minutes until she cooled off. When she went back into the room her heart softened when she saw Justin slouched down on the couch a little, with Mackenzie resting on his chest and he was singing to her.
"Isn't that the song you wrote while I was pregnant?" Britney asked softly, she was standing in front of him now.
He nodded and glanced down at Mackenzie, who's eyes were now shut.
"It's.....beautiful."
"Thanks," he said softly.
"Want me to put her down?" she asked, holding out her arms.
He shook his head as he slowly stood up. "No, I'll just go lay her down."
When he walked back over she was sitting in the spot he vacated with her legs curled up underneath her. She patted the empty spot next to her.
"We need to talk," she said, looking up at him.
He nodded as he sat. "You're right we do."
"You go first," they both said at the same time and then laughed.
"You go first because I think whatever you have to say will reflect what I have to say...." she said.
He took a deep breath and wiped his sweaty palms against his jeans.
"Okay.....well, I guess it's obvious that you want to take our relationship in a different direction," he started, his eyes avoiding hers.
She smiled and nodded.
"So, if you really want to see this other guy.....I can't stop you," he said looking into her eyes.
Her eyes got big and she had to keep her mouth from gaping open.
"What? What...guy?" she asked.
"That guy you were going to tell me about. The one who's so good with Mackenzie?"
Even saying that out loud killed him.
She had to think back, and rubbed her forehead as she did.
"Um, no, there is no one," she said, shaking her head.
"There isn't?" he asked in a surprised tone.
"No. Why, what were you getting at?"
He looked at her, trying to read her expression.
"Well you said you wanted to talk about what we talked about before the tour and that was about seeing other people. I mean it will be hard for me but if that's what makes you happy....."
She stopped him by laughing.
He just stared at her.
"It's not funny," he said sadly.
She cupped his face in her hands. "Yes it is because I thought you were going to say that you didn't feel the same way about me anymore. The talk I was referring to was at Christmas time and I thought you knew that but when you started to shut yourself off I thought you had changed your mind."
A slow smile spread across his face.
"So that means....."
She nodded.
"I love you Justin. I love you so much that it scared the hell out of me because I can't loose you this time. This time I have too much at stake."
He caressed her shoulders. "There's no way you'd loose me. We both have too much at stake now. There's a little life we created that we need to consider now."
She nodded and blinked back the tears.
"So when we do this, Brit.....it's going to be forever. Does that scare you?"
She smiled and shook her head. "No."
He let out his breath. "Me either."
He cupped her face and pulled it to his for a kiss.
"Oh, and I love you too," he said in between kisses.
Britney pushed away from him a little bit. He gave her a questioning look.
"You know, we've said those words all along.....they mean more now."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I don't just love you anymore. I'm in love with you............again," she giggled.
"God, me too," he said before kissing her again.
Without even realizing it, Britney started to lean back against the back of the couch, pulling Justin along with him. His hands immediately reach for the buttons on her blouse and then he realized that Mackenzie was asleep in the corner of the room so he pulled back and sat down.
"What?" she asked.
Her lips were swollen and her blouse half unbuttoned.
"I don't want to wake the baby," he said breathlessly.
"Oh......right. I'm terrible, I hadn't even thought of that," she said, running her fingers through her hair.
"It's okay...I mean she won't know what's going on but still," he chuckled.
She blushed. "I know. I just couldn't help myself," she said, her hands running up his stomach to his chest.
He closed his eyes for a second and then opened them. He reached over and buttoned a few of the buttons on her blouse and smiled.
"Less distraction," he said.
"You seem different tonight," Fe said to her as she sat down with her in her dressing room right before her show went on.
Britney took a deep breath and sighed. "I feel different. I feel happy....happier than I've been in a long time."
"Does a certain someone have anything to do with that?" she questioned.
Britney blushed. "Maybe."
"Well, good for both of you. Things have a funny way of working out, don't they?"
"Yeah, they do. So, what's the schedule for tonight? We leave for the next city, right?" Britney asked, before scratching her nose.
"No, tonight we're staying here since we have a night off. I decided to book another night in St. Louis instead of Little Rock."
"Oh really. So I have tomorrow off?"
Fe nodded.
"They have a zoo here, right?"
Fe chuckled. "I'm pretty sure they do."
"Awwww, maybe Justin and I can take Mackenzie to the zoo. You think she'd like that?"
Fe smiled at her. "I doubt she'll know what's going on but if it makes her parents' happy then I'm sure she'll love it."
Britney laughed.
Fe couldn't take it any longer. "Sooooo, tell me."
"We feel the same way about each other."
"You're in love," Fe sighed.
"Yep. We talked about it today and we feel the same way. We have this beautiful baby and I'm just so happy, Fe. Sometimes it scares me to feel this happy."
Fe touched Britney's leg. "Sweetie, you deserve to be happy, don't be afraid of it."
"I know.....I'm trying."
Britney studied her fingernails for a second. "Fe?"
"Hmmm?" she asked, looking up from her book.
"Do you think you could do me a favor? A huge huge favor?"
Fe gave a knowing smile. Britney still looked down at her nails as she asked her question.
"Would you mind watching Mackenzie tonight?" she asked softly.
Fe held her smile back. "I wouldn't mind at all."
Britney looked up. "Really? I mean, she's not sleeping through the night completely but she'll only wake you up really early to be fed...."
Fe laughed. "It's okay, Boo. You have your special night with Justin and Mackenzie and I will have a girls' night out," she said, winking at her.
Britney grabbed Fe's hands in hers. "Thank you," she said before pulling her into a hug.
There was a knock on the door and the stage manager yelled. "Britney, you need to be out here in five."
"Okay, thanks," she yelled back.
Justin was sitting on the bus watching the TV with the volume low because Mackenzie fell asleep on his chest. He should take her to her crib but he really didn't want to disrupt her and he liked holding her. He decided to stay on the bus with Mackenzie while Britney was on stage tonight. That way they didn't have to bother anyone to watch her and Justin got some quality time with his daughter.
He made a few phone calls as well. One was to his mom, of course to tell her the good news about he and Britney. The other was to his best friend Trace, who wasn't as thrilled but was happy as long as Justin was happy.
He looked at the clock on the oven when he heard talking outside the bus. Good, she's probably on her way. Then the door opened and Britney got on.
"Hey," she said softly, walking over to him and sitting down next to him on the couch.
"Hey," he said, just as quietly and strained his neck as much as he could to give her a kiss.
Britney put her hand on Mackenzie's back.
"How long has she been asleep?" she asked, gently rubbing the baby's back.
"I lost track of time," he chuckled. "Probably over an hour. I didn't want to put her down. I know I shouldn't spoil her like this but I can't help it," he said smiling.
She smiled back. "I know, you don't get to see her as often. Guess what?" she asked, leaning in closer to him.
"What?"
He brushed the couple of strands of hair that fell from the towel on her head away from her shoulder.
"We're staying in St. Louis tonight and we have the whole day to hang out tomorrow. I thought we could go to the zoo. I talked to Rob and he's going to arrange it. How does that sound?"
"It sounds great. I think the zoo is in the middle of a park here, maybe we can do a picnic lunch too."
The driver of the bus came aboard.
"We ready?" he asked.
"Yep, go ahead David," Britney said.
Within a few minutes the bus was on it's way back to the hotel.
"So, what did you two do tonight?" Britney asked, snuggling up next to Justin as much as the towel on her head would let her.
"We played cards, watched some old movies....you know, the usual."
Britney giggled.
"I have a surprise for you tonight...." she said as she traced a circle on his arm.
"You do, do you?"
"Mmmhmmmm," she said, nodding her head.
"What is it?" he asked.
She laughed. "I'm not telling.....you're bad at surprises, aren't you?"
"When they're for me, yes. But I love to give them."
"Yes, I know you do."
It didn't take long for them to get back to the hotel but once the bus stopped they had to wait until Rob came and got them so they knew it was clear enough for them to get into the hotel.
"This is going to be hard, not to wake her through that crowd," Britney said, looking through the window at the crowd gathered around the front entrance to the hotel.
Rob got on the bus. "You ready?"
Justin had already been gathering the few things they needed and he threw a blanket completely over Mackenzie and nodded.
"I already told them that you can't stop for autographs or pictures," Rob told them.
Britney smiled at him as she walked up to him. "Thanks. Let's go."
He nodded and opened the door, walking off first. Britney was right behind him, followed by Justin holding the baby. There were a lot of flash bulbs going off and they could hear some of the girls awing over the baby. Q was behind him.
Justin didn't remove the blanket until they were in the elevator. When he did, Britney took a peek and noticed that she was still asleep.
"What did you do to her tonight?" she giggled before leaning down and kissing the baby's cheek.
"I told you....we partied hard," he said, glancing down, trying to get a glimpse of Mackenzie's face.
They were ushered off the elevator and down the hallway to their room.
"I guess I have to put her down now," Justin sighed when they got into the room.
He walked over to the crib and carefully laid the baby down in it. She fussed a little, but her eyes were closed and she immediately fell quiet.
Britney was in the bathroom letting her hair down from the towel so Justin snuck in behind her and wrapped his arms around her and started nibbling on her neck.
"So......what's my surprise?" he whispered, sending shivers down her spine.
She giggled. "You still have to wait and see."
The phone rang so she quickly pulled away from Justin, leaving him standing there as she ran to go get it.
"Hello? Oh good. Yeah, give me about five minutes. Right, just like we talked about. Bye."
She hung up the phone and started looking around for something.
"Um, Brit?" Justin asked, leaning against the doorframe.
"Huh?" she asked, not looking up.
She was putting a few clothes in piles.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Shhh," she said.
He shrugged and went back into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
In about five minutes Britney knocked on the door.
"Justin.....come on, I've got to give you you're surprise," Britney said.
He had just finished brushing his teeth so he opened the door. "I didn't want to disturb your surprise thing," he said smiling.
She smiled and turned him around and placed a blindfold over his eyes.
"Brit, come on, I hate this," he said, feeling the blindfold.
"Quit being a party pooper," she said.
She helped him walk across the room to the door that led into the hallway.
"Stay here," she said.
She walked over to the bed and picked up the bag she left on there. She opened the door and saw Fe standing in the hallway. She handed Britney a keycard with a room number on a piece of paper and Britney mouthed thank you to her. Fe winked at her and stepped inside the room, gently shutting the door behind her.
Britney walked Justin down the hall toward room 1120.
"We're almost there," she said to Justin.
"Where?"
"You'll find out in just a second."
"Brit, I feel stupid walking down the hall with this thing on," he said, feeling the blindfold again.
"Stop," she said, smacking his arm.
She slid the keycard into the door and it opened.
"I think you just walked me in a circle and we're back where we started," he teased. Then it suddenly hit him. "Brit, who's with Mackenzie?"
"It's taken care of."
When they were both in the room she flipped the light on and then helped him take the blindfold off.
He looked around the room.
"I would have had candles or rose petals or something brought in but this was very last minute."
She let the bag fall down to the floor.
"You got us a different room?" he asked, looking down at her.
She smiled and nodded as she smoothed her hands out over his stomach, on up to his chest.
"Just you....."
She pulled his face down closer to hers and gently kissed his lips.
"And me....."
