Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 20
Mid August 2004...
Britney opened her hotel room door to a woman with a clipboard and a camera crew.
"Morning," the woman said. She held out her hand.
"Hi....boy, you guys are prompt, aren't you?" Britney asked as she shook the young woman's hand.
"Well, we want to get in as much time with you today that we can. Your assistant gave us the times when we should leave you alone and if there are any other times where you want the cameras turned off, just let us know. We're not here to invade your space, just inform people of what your life is like on the road now that you're a mother," the woman smiled.
"Great....sounds good. Come on in, I guess....I'm sorry, I know you told me your name yesterday but Mackenzie was up earlier than normal this morning and my mind is a blank."
"I'm Suzie and this is my crew," she said, with a wave of her hand behind her. There were about four other people with her with cameras, lights and microphones.
"Right....sorry. So, you just want me to go about my normal day?" Britney asked, letting her arms flop to her side.
"Yeah...I might be asking you some questions in between. Again, if I get too personal just tell me and I'll change the line of questioning."
Britney nodded. "Got it. Trust me, I'm not shy about that," she laughed.
Suzie smiled. "Good. We'll just start rolling, okay?"
Britney nodded. "Sure. Do you want me to kind of talk about what I'm doing as I do it? I mean if it's not obvious?" she asked, looking around.
"If you want. It's up to you, we'll edit the stuff that doesn't fit in later."
"Well, this morning Mackenzie woke up around four and usually she's been sleeping until six so this was something different. She's back down now but I'm sure she'll wake up soon because she hears my voice."
"Is that why you're talking relatively quiet?" Suzie asked.
"Yeah....plus I always sound like this for about the first hour after I wake up," Britney giggled.
"So what do you do when Mackenzie's taking a nap? Do you catch up on your reading or news?"
Two guys with handheld cameras were walking around a little to get different shots of her.
"Yeah....sometimes I catch up on phone calls. It depends on what time of the day it is, stuff like that," she shrugged.
"Will the cameras bother Mackenzie?" Suzie asked.
"I don't think so. Those kinds of video cameras are always in her face," she chuckled, pointing at the handheld cameras. "The large one with that fuzzy boom mic might make her a little nervous. I don't know, we'll see. She's a very curious baby," Britney smiled. She loved talking about her daughter.
They were now seated on the couch in the middle of the seating area.
"How old is she now?"
"She's five months old."
"Awww, such a cute age," Suzie said.
"Well, we think so," Britney giggled.
"Who's we?"
"Oh.....well, Justin and I."
"And Justin's not here with you right now, right?"
Britney shook her head. "No, he's on tour...they're out West right now. We'll see him soon," she sighed.
"So things are good between you guys? You're able to handle the separation from the baby?"
Britney rubbed her hands together. "Justin's away from her more than I am," she said softly. "I don't know how he handles it."
She has a far away look in her eyes. "He took her to LA for just a few days once and I thought I was going to go crazy without seeing her. I think he deals with it better than I did. I'm not saying he doesn't miss her," she corrected herself....
"No, I understood what you meant. So, your tour is over tomorrow night. What's next?"
"Well, the plan is to join Justin on the Nsync tour. We're going to use my bus and everything just because it's so well equipped with everything we need."
"Will we get a tour of the bus?" Suzie asked.
"Sure, I don't see why not. I'll show you around later."
Suzie smiled and looked down at her clipboard. "You don't have a nanny....any particular reason why?"
Britney screwed up her nose. "I have different reasons why, actually. I don't know....I just want to be the one that's there for Mackenzie. I know my career and schedule make that a little difficult sometimes but I think we did just fine on this tour without having a nanny."
"What do you do when you've got back to back interviews and then a sound check and then a show?"
"Usually my mom or maybe my brother will be there. Oh and of course Justin was along with us whenever he could be."
"Has this made you and Justin closer?"
Britney blushed a little. "Well, of course. We're together now."
"Would you call him your boyfriend?"
Britney giggled. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I think he's more than just my boyfriend, but yeah...."
"Is he a good father?"
Britney rolled her eyes. "Lordy.....yeah. He's a great father. Honestly when we went out before, I always knew that about him....he's so good with kids. I knew he'd be a great daddy. Mackenzie's face just lights up when she hears his voice or sees him."
"Awww, I wish we could see that," Suzie smiled.
"I do too," Britney sighed and then laughed.
Within a few minutes Mackenzie woke up.
"Is it okay to send one of the guys in with you?" Suzie asked when Britney stood up.
"Sure. If it becomes a problem for Mackenzie then I'll just ask you to leave."
Britney opened the door to the adjoining room and flipped on the light. The cameraman followed her quietly so he didn't scare the baby.
"Hey sweetie," Britney whispered.
Mackenzie's cries calmed down a little when she heard Britney's voice. She was sitting up in her crib, with tears running down her face. She held her arms out for Britney to pick her up as her lower lip still quivered.
"Oh my goodness," Britney said. "I bet you need to be changed." She felt the area around her diaper and nodded. "Yep."
She looked at the cameraman. He nodded and stopped recording. "You don't need to ask," he chuckled.
She smiled back at him. "Thanks. It will be just a minute. You can record as soon as I have a diaper on her again," she chuckled.
"Will do," he said.
Britney quickly changed Mackenzie....which isn't an easy task anymore since she discovered her toes and likes to play with them when she can.
"Okay wiggle worm," she said picking her back up. The camera started to record again. "Now, we have to pick an outfit out for today, don't we?" Right now Mackenzie was only in an undershirt and diaper.
"How about green today? You look so pretty in this one," she said holding a green dress in her hand.
Then she picked out a blue jumper outfit and Mackenzie grabbed for it. "Her favorite color," Britney said to the camera. "She's just like her mommy and daddy."
Britney put the outfit on Mackenzie and then put a barrette in her hair.
"She's got great hair. The thing with her hair is that she didn't get the worst part of mine or Justin's hair. See, she got the curls but they're softer, they're not as wiry as Justin's hair can get. His can get really unruly and then she has more hair than I do but she's got the same texture of mine," she said running her fingers through Mackenzie's hair.
Britney's cell phone started to ring so she put Mackenzie on her hip and entered the seating room and answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi....I didn't wake you did I?" Justin asked.
She glanced at the time and quickly figured out the time difference. "No...I'm awake. I've got the camera crews with me right now."
"Oh that's right."
"Isn't it pretty early for you guys there?" she chuckled as she sat down and set Mackenzie on her lap.
"Yeah....they arranged for us to do a morning show here....live."
"Oh, lucky you."
"Exactly. But I thought I'd try you and see how your night went."
"It went well....Mackenzie woke up a little earlier than normal, which confused me. I think she can tell something's different."
"Like she knows that you're going to be seeing me more often?"
She laughed. "Yeah, something like that."
"Awwww, she knows she's going to see her daddy. I'm all proud now."
Britney giggled. "Okay, you can stop now. I have to feed her now, sweetie....call me later."
"Okay. I love you."
"I love you too. Bye."
She hung up the phone.
"Do you guys talk often?" Suzie asked. "I'm assuming that was Justin."
"Oh yeah....we talk all the time. Probably three to four times a day if we can. I think it helps ease the pain of being away, a little bit."
She stood up and set Mackenzie in her swing and then went to the mini-fridge to get a jar of baby food out. She got a spoon out of a bag and set it down on the coffee table in front of the couch. Then she picked up a bib that was lying on the back of a chair and picked Mackenzie up out of the swing and sat down with her.
"She has been eating soft food for a little while now....but she's so messy," Britney laughed, while screwing up her nose.
Mackenzie looked up at her and made a face at Britney while she laughed. "You are messy aren't you?"
Mackenzie giggled, which made Suzie laugh. When Mackenzie heard someone else laugh, other than her mother she turned her attention to her.
"Hi Mackenzie," Suzie said, waving to her.
Mackenzie smiled and then started to babble as she waved her hands up and down.
"Now, come on....look, mommy has food," Britney said, trying to get the baby's attention so she could feed her.
The rest of the morning was spent playing with Mackenzie. Britney talked about how sometimes she might have an interview or something else lined up around this time but today she got to take a break.
"Except for us," Suzie chuckled.
"Well.....yeah," Britney smiled. "But it's okay because I'm still spending it with her," she said before placing a kiss on top of Mackenzie's head.
"How much exposure are you willing to give to Mackenzie?"
"Well....Justin and I have actually had many conversations about this....if it were up to us, we wouldn't have her picture anywhere, you know? We just want to her to be as normal as possible....but we know that's going to be hard with our lifestyle. So if we can regulate how much exposure she has then maybe it won't be so bad," she shrugged. "That's why we agreed to do this. I mean if you want to spend a day with me to see what it's like on tour with me, then you have to see me as a mommy because right now, that comes first and foremost."
Suzie nodded. "What are the long term plans for you and Justin?"
Britney scooted back in her chair a little bit and looked down at Mackenzie who was playing in her play pen. She cleared her throat. "You know....neither of us have had time to think about long term plans right now. Since we've been back together either I've been on tour or he's been in rehearsals. I think we need to spend more time together as a family to figure out anything long term."
"Justin will always be a part of your life, though."
"Oh yeah, of course. No matter what happens between Justin and I," she said, touching her chest, "he'll always be a part of her life, which means he'll be a part of mine."
"When you think of your future....do you think of anymore children down the road?"
Britney laughed. "Like how soon?"
Suzie shrugged.
"Well....of course I think about more children but not too soon, no. I think in five years or so...I don't know. I guess you can't always plan it," she said looking over at Mackenzie.
Suzie caught the glimpse. "So, Mackenzie wasn't planned?"
Britney laughed nervously. "Well....no, I didn't plan on getting pregnant at that time. But she's our blessing....our little angel and we wouldn't change anything. I think you could ask Justin the same thing and you'd get the same answer."
Suzie smiled and nodded.
Once Britney and Fe had everything packed, their stuff was taken to the bus and Britney, Mackenzie and their entourage took the trek down to the bus.
"We're here a little earlier so we can stop at the venue and give you a tour of the bus," Britney said, once she had Mackenzie settled in her baby seat.
"Does it ever get tiring? Moving from the hotel to the venue back to another hotel like this?"
Britney shook her head and stared out the window at the people who were lined up outside the hotel to see her.
"It has it's moments. Now, I don't mind it though. The more I stick to a routine, the more I get to see my baby."
Suzie nodded. "That makes sense. Overall do you think your schedule will slow down?"
The bus started to pull away from the hotel and head toward the venue.
"Yeah, actually starting now it is. Justin and I are going to work our schedules around each other's as much as we can."
"Do you think that will work?" Suzie asked.
"We'll make it work," she smiled.
