Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 22
Mid August 2004...
"Britney, you did a concert special that will be airing on CBS in a couple of weeks....you've been so good at keeping your daughter hidden from the media, what made you decide to do this?" Pat asked her.
"Well, it's been tough, actually. We tried to keep her out of this as much as possible and it was beginning to become a game, almost so we just decided when this opportunity came up that we should just grab onto it. It was a nice way of getting her accustomed to the lifestyle that we both lead."
"You figured it's inevitable, we'll just do this on our terms?" Pat asked.
"Exactly. We had control over how much was too much, you know?"
"Justin....you weren't there that day she filmed this. Have you gotten to see it yet?"
Justin shook his head. "No, actually I haven't. I've seen a couple of clips but not the whole thing put together."
"The million dollar question I'm sure.....are you guys in love?"
They both smiled and Britney answered yes while Justin nodded.
"Any plans on getting married?" He looked at Justin.
Justin shifted Mackenzie a little bit in his arms which made her stir and turn her head.
"Right now....I think we're too busy to even think about making plans of any kind," he chuckled.
Pat looked at Britney. She hid her disappointed look well. "Britney?"
"We are busy," she agreed.
"Speaking of busy....both of you at one point were on tour this summer at the same time. How do you deal with that kind of separation?"
"It was hard," Britney said as she rubbed Mackenzie's back. "We're hoping that that's the last time we're both traveling like that. And of course we were on opposite sides of the country."
"How did you decide who got to keep Mackenzie?" Pat asked, pointing between the two.
"I don't think I let Justin decide," Britney laughed.
Justin smiled as he stared at the ground.
"I had her while he was rehearsing for the tour but Justin had her for about a week while I was in New York. My schedule's always crazy when I'm here."
"And you don't have a nanny, is that correct?"
"Right," Justin nodded.
"Are you guys going nuts yet?" Pat chuckled.
Justin shook his head. "We're pretty close...nah, I'm just kidding. I think we have enough family and friends traveling with us that if we need a break or we're busy doing something, there's always someone around who we trust that can watch her."
"Always a grandma around, huh?"
Britney nodded and laughed. "Exactly. You know our mama's too well, don't you?"
"And from what I understand there's choice footage from your concert thrown in there as well," Pat added.
"Right....I think we've got the selection narrowed down now," she chuckled. "But yeah, you get to see my show a little bit with what my life is like now thrown in here and there."
"Well, good luck you two.....I'm glad to see you guys look happy and you have a beautiful healthy baby."
"Thanks, Pat," Justin said.
"Thanks," Britney replied.
They cut and shook Pat's hand. Pat talked to them a little bit after that before they joined the rest of the group who were waiting to do an interview with E!.
"That was kind of fun," Britney said.
"Hey, did you bring her stroller?" Justin asked.
"Yeah. Rob could you get the stroller? I'm not sure where you put it."
"Sure," he said walking away.
"You getting tired of holding her?" Britney asked Justin as she gently caressed Mackenzie's cheek.
"No, I just think she'll be more comfortable in the stroller. And this way, she's not hogging all the camera time," he said as he carefully placed her in the stroller that Rob just brought to them.
"Uh huh, I knew you had ulterior motives," she said rubbing his back.
He stood up straight and pulled her into his arms. "Plus now I can do this."
He leaned down and captured her mouth with his.
"Mmmmm, we should have gotten the stroller out a long time ago."
He chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose.
They found where the next interview was going to be and Britney sat off to the side, with the stroller right next to her and she watched the guys do their final interview. Almost all of these interviews were being done in the middle of the venue, in the seating area.
She sat on the back of one of the seats in the venue and angled the stroller in the aisle. While she watched the guys doing their usual antics, she'd glance down and make sure Mackenzie wasn't awake. At one point Justin was asked a question about her and the baby and she could have sworn she heard the word marriage in there again, so she squinted her eyes and craned her neck as much as she could to hear what his answer was, without looking too obvious, of course.
It was probably the typical answer he was giving about being too busy and it brought her inner turmoil to think that it hurt her a little bit whenever he would answer that way. Wasn't he the one who had wanted to get married when she was pregnant? And they had only gotten closer since then. She was trying to read his lips....yes, she thinks she saw him say, too busy. Dammit!
She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. 'Oh, Brit...just tell him,' she thought to herself, shaking her head.
She continued to stare at Justin. If you had told her a little over a year ago that she would be the mother of his child she would have laughed in your face. She had truly felt that she was over him, even though he'd sneak into her thoughts once in awhile. Sure she was still physically attracted to him. Isn't that what that night they had spent together was all about? She propped her chin on her hand and rested her elbow against her stomach as she watched him. She loved the way he'd smile, the way he'd blink or lick his lips.
She shook her head to snap out of her thoughts that were only leading her to a cold shower at the moment.
"Oh Mackenzie, you do have a good looking daddy," she whispered and then looked down.
Suddenly she stood up and looked around.
"Mackenzie," she said a little louder. "Okay you were just here. Where in the hell could you have gone?"
She looked down the aisle but didn't see anyone but workers working on the stage. Panic set in.
"Justin," she yelled.
All five guys and the interviewer turned their attention toward her and Justin came running over. He grabbed her arms.
"What's wrong?"
"Mackenzie.....she was right here and now she's not....oh God."
"What do you mean? You weren't watching her?"
Tears sprung to her eyes. She had been watching her, that was the whole point. She was always in her peripheral vision but somehow she managed to escape that.
"Yes....but when I glanced down she was gone."
Rob was across the room and saw the panic on Justin and Britney's faces so he came over.
"Rob....you didn't see anyone pushing Mackenzie's stroller, did you?" Justin asked.
He shook his head. "I was standing right over there....I would have seen someone walk through that door," he said, pointing to one of the doors. "And your guards are by the other doors."
"Did the stroller roll away?" Justin asked.
"I don't know, Justin...if I knew, I wouldn't have called your attention to it," she said in a frustrated tone.
He let go of her arms. "I know....I'm not thinking clearly." He ran a hand through his hair.
"Anything we can do?" JC asked.
"Yeah, I guess we can all split up and start looking."
"I'll have all outside doors secured," Rob said, heading up toward the top so he could talk to security.
Lance and Chris walked through the aisle of seats and started to look around the other side of the venue while Joey and JC stayed on this side.
Britney sat down and stared straight ahead.
"I'm a terrible mother," Britney said.
Justin was about to walk away to help with the search but he turned around and knelt down beside her. He gently touched her legs.
"No you're not. I'm sure you were keeping a close eye on her. Things can happen so fast."
Her lower lip started to quiver and tears were now streaming down her face.
"Someone took her...I can just feel it."
"Rob would have seen if someone took her," Justin said. He wasn't so sure himself but it made him feel better to think that way.
"Come on....let's go out here and look," he said, standing up and holding out his hand.
She took his hand and let him help her up. They walked up toward the lobby.
After about fifteen minutes of searching in different closets and doorways in the lobby, Justin heard his name being called.
He peaked around a corner to try to hear it again.
"Justin! Britney!"
It was JC.
"JC, we're out here," Justin said, standing in the middle of the hallway.
Britney slowly walked up behind Justin and stood a few feet behind him.
Then they saw him.....pushing a stroller with a big smile on his face.
"Oh my God....my baby," Britney said as she pushed passed Justin and met JC and the stroller.
She knelt down and looked at her still sleeping angel. She carefully unbuckled her and held her close as she kissed the side of her head and rocked back and forth.....the tears freely falling again.
She stood up and felt Justin's arms come around her as he embraced both of them and kissed the top of Mackenzie's head as a tear or two fell from his eyes as well.
"Where did you find her?" Joey asked as he and Lance walked up to the group.
"The stroller must have rolled. It rolled about halfway down and took a turn into the seats but there were poster boards or something hiding her stroller. I had walked passed it a couple of times but finally saw it on my way back up."
Justin looked up as he still had his arms wrapped around Britney. "Thanks, man," he said, his voice raw.
"You're very welcome," he said, slapping Justin on the back. "We'll leave you three alone."
"Thanks....thank the guys for helping and can someone tell Rob or Mike?" Justin asked.
"Sure," Lance said as they walked away.
"Come on....let's go in here," Justin said, ushering Britney and Mackenzie into a small waiting area that was closed off.
He pushed the stroller in behind them and shut the door.
Britney sat down and cradled Mackenzie against her. She was now beginning to wake up and already sounded cranky.
"Mommy's sorry she woke you up," Britney whispered against her daughter's hair.
Justin sat down next to them and put his arm around Britney. He pulled her closer and kissed her temple before running his hand over the back of Mackenzie's head.
She started to cry as her eyes slowly focused on who was holding her.
"Shhhhhhh, don't cry sweetie," Britney said softly.
"I'm still shaking," Justin said, looking down at his hand that was now resting on his leg.
"I think my whole body is too. I was so scared, Justin. I had visions of her being kidn...."
"Shhh, don't say it," Justin said, pulling her closer. "We let security get a little lax in there, that's all. Rob had the doorways covered and my guys were at the other exit...no one would have gotten out, we just got scared."
She nodded. He was right. Their security was the best and no one would have taken her unless they knew of secret passageways or something.
"I can't believe I didn't see the stroller move..."
Justin kissed the side of her head again.
"Or that I didn't hear it," she said shaking her head. She leaned down and kissed Mackenzie again.
"It could have happened to anyone," Justin whispered.
"I mean normally I'm so anal about protecting her that I overprotect her and tonight I let something else distract me...."
Mackenzie has finally quieted down and now has her head on Justin's lap and the rest of her body was draped over Britney's legs.
"She always seems content when she's touching both of us," Justin chuckles as he runs his fingers over her curls.
"That means we can never leave her....or each other," Britney says softly as they watch Mackenzie's eyes close again.
