Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 25
Mid-Late August 2004...
Britney woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon. Her head was killing her and the smell was intoxicating, yet nauseating. She threw her hand to cover her eyes and groaned.
"Let's go see if mommy's awake yet," Justin said as he walked into the bedroom, carrying Mackenzie.
"She's awake," Britney said. Her mouth was dry.
Justin set the bottle of water on the nightstand next to Britney and then sat down on the bed next to her.
"And she doesn't seem to be handling her alcohol well," Justin said in the same tone he used with Mackenzie.
Mackenzie looked up at him.
Britney slowly opened her eyes.
"My head is killing me," she said. "Hey baby." She tried to smile at her daughter.
"Here," Justin said, handing her the bottled water.
"Oh, thanks....how did you know?" she asked as she twisted the cap off.
"I've been there," he chuckled.
"It's not that bad though....I've felt worse before."
"Well, it's been awhile since either of us have let go and partied like that...."
She took a couple of swigs of water and scooted up in bed so that she was sitting. She held out her hands for Mackenzie and she went into Britney's arms quickly.
"I've got breakfast ready if you're up to it," Justin said, standing up.
"I might be able to eat. Let me go splash my face a little," she said, looking up at him.
"Okay."
He took Mackenzie and left the room.
When Britney joined them in the kitchen Justin was already feeding Mackenzie.
"Is that good?" she asked her daughter before kissing her on the top of the head.
"She's eating it....I guess that's good enough," Justin chuckled as he fed her another bite.
Britney fixed herself a plate of pancakes and bacon and then poured a glass of juice.
"Do we have to leave today?" she asked in a still hoarse voice.
She sat down next to Justin at the table.
"Yeah.....I think the Pittsburgh fans would be disappointed if I wasn't there because we're tired."
She chuckled and then held her head. "Ow."
"We're leaving at noon though so we can't chill too much this morning."
"Okay," she said before taking a bite of pancake.
Once Mackenzie finished eating Justin made himself a plate and rejoined Britney and the table.
"Here baby, drink your juice," Justin said, handing the sippy cup back to Mackenzie.
"So....do we want to talk about last night now?" Britney asked after a few moments of silence.
Justin glanced over at Mackenzie...."I guess we can talk now."
"Okay....what was wrong?"
Justin sighed and stared at his plate.
"It was something you said...."
"I thought you weren't mad at me," she interjected.
He looked up at her. "No I wasn't....I'm not."
"Okay...."
"When we were at the club dancing and you said that you hoped last night wasn't a repeat of what happened before...." he said nodding his head toward Mackenzie who was busy knocking her cup against her high chair.
"Right.....you did?" she asked, confused.
He chuckled slightly. "No, it wasn't that....it just hit me the wrong way. I knew you didn't mean anything by it but the alcohol was working and it just.......upset me, I guess."
She thought about it for a minute while she ate. "I guess I could see how it could be taken wrong...."
"I mean, I don't think of Mackenzie as some careless mistake we made that night," he said with sincerity in his eyes.
She reached out and placed her hand on top of his. "I don't either."
"Good," he said letting out his breath.
"Did you really think I felt that way, Justin?" she asked, a little hurt.
"No," he said shaking his head. "I didn't think you felt that way, it just....I don't know."
Britney stood up, walked over and picked Mackenzie up out of her high chair, making sure she grabbed the sippy cup. When she sat back down in her chair she set Mackenzie down in her lap and turned a little to face Justin.
"I look back now and I can't even imagine my life without her..." she said before placing a kiss on top of Mackenzie's head.
"I know. It really did change our lives, huh?" he asked. He reached out and touched Mackenzie's leg.
"Completely........for the better," she said as she looked up at him.
He smiled at her and nodded. "I agree. Sometimes I think, where would I be at right now, who would I be with...."
Britney's smile faded a little and she looked back down at the baby.
"Do you think we would have eventually found each other again?" she asked softly.
It took him a minute to answer. "I really don't know. It was up to you at that point, you know?"
She looked at him and noticed his smile. She giggled. "Yeah, I kind of figured that at the time. So you were ready for me?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah....I was ready. I wasn't waiting but ready. If that makes sense."
She nodded. "It does. I'm sorry that it took our daughter to get us to this point."
He shook his head and leaned in closer to her. "Don't be sorry. Things happen for reasons, right?"
She nodded before he kissed her. Mackenzie was kind of wedged in between her parents at this point so she reached up and grabbed the chain around Justin's neck since it was hanging in her face.
He pulled back and laughed, gently grabbing his chain from her hand.
"Don't do that angel," he said, shaking his head.
"Awww, she just wanted a little love too," Britney said, placing kisses all over Mackenzie's face.
Justin took her from Britney and held her in the air. When he brought her down he attacked her face with kisses, which made her giggle.
"Justin....she's going to puke all over you if you keep that up," Britney said grabbing their plates and taking them to the sink.
"Ewwww we don't want that, do we Mackenzie?" he asked her.
Mackenzie started to babble.
~*~
A few days later Britney and Mackenzie were hanging out by the pool at the hotel in Atlanta.
"Do you mind if I take your picture?" a fan came up and asked.
"You can take mine but I'd like it if you didn't take one of the baby," Britney said.
"Sure," the fan said and snapped a picture. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Britney said as she watched the young girl walk away.
She glanced down at Mackenzie who was sitting in her carrier. Britney had it faced away from the people and the visor pulled over so she could be shaded from the sun.
Justin and the guys had a special interview they did for a local station so she took the morning to enjoy herself by the pool. Once in awhile she'd ask Rob to keep an eye on Mackenzie while she took a quick dip in the pool to cool off.
She was really into her book and when she looked up she noticed there were only a couple of people left at the pool so she decided to see if Mackenzie wanted to float in her new water toy.
"Come on....let's see if you like this," Britney said, unbuckling Mackenzie out of the carrier.
She applied the sun screen on her and grabbed the baby's hat and the inflatable baby preserver. She walked over to the side where there were easy stairs for her to walk down. Slowly she eased them into the water. Mackenzie wasn't quite sure about this at first. She kept watching her mommy to see what was really going on. Britney was standing in the water with Mackenzie's legs just dangling in it and she'd splash a little water onto her arms to see how she was doing. Rob kept an eye on them from his chair by the side.
Finally Britney lowered herself into the water more so that Mackenzie was into the water up to her chest. She seemed okay so Britney walked around the pool a little bit.
"You like this?" Britney asked.
She chuckled when she watched the faces Mackenzie would make. She walked over to the side where she had set the inflatable toy down. Carefully she set her inside of it and let her float. Mackenzie suddenly got a big smile on her face and liked it when Britney would pull her around the pool a little bit.
"So I'm gone for a couple of hours and you already have our daughter doing laps in the pool?" Justin said.
Britney glanced behind her and saw Justin standing on the side of the pool crouched down.
She laughed.
"And she's doing so well, too," she said.
When Mackenzie saw her daddy she got excited and started to bounce her arms up and down and ended up splashing Britney and herself. She blinked a couple of times until Britney wiped the water away from her eyes.
They walked over to the side where Justin was.
"Go get your trunks on," Britney said, looking up at him.
"You gonna stay much longer?" he asked.
"Yeah we'll stay a little bit now that you're here."
"Okay, I'll hurry."
He stood up and walked away.
Mackenzie watched him as he left and she looked back at Britney and started to get upset.
"Don't worry, he'll be back," she said.
She tried to keep her preoccupied by pulling her around the pool again but Mackenzie kept a watchful eye on the gate where Justin had exited.
Finally he came back down.
He threw the towel down by the chair Britney's stuff was at and took off his T-shirt. He jumped right in, making sure he was far enough away from Britney and the baby so he didn't splash them.
When Mackenzie saw him do this she screamed in delight and started babbling, which made Britney laugh. Justin swam under water to where the girls were and appeared right in front of them. This made Mackenzie get excited again and she started kicking her legs.
"Hey there angel," he said, standing up and kissing her on the cheek.
"She missed you," Britney said.
"Awwww, did you miss daddy?" he asked.
"As soon as you walked away to go get your trunks on she got upset."
"I'm back....see," he said shaking the inflatable device she was in a little. "You're doing good in this, aren't you?"
"She likes it a lot," Britney said.
"What about mommy?" he asked turning toward her.
"What about me?" she chuckled.
"Did you miss daddy too?" he asked wrapping an arm around her.
She laughed. "Yes...I cried with her when you left, too."
"Awwww," he said before leaning over for a quick kiss. "Don't worry, I won't go far."
"Good," she said.
The three of them played in the pool for awhile until Britney decided that Mackenzie was going to turn into a prune.
"You have to get to the venue anyway," she said to Justin.
"Yeah....true."
A little while later the three of them were at the venue, backstage in the dressing rooms. Mackenzie was being entertained by a couple of the *Nsync guys while Britney got her hair done by their stylist.
"Let's do something daring," Angie, the stylist said.
"Like what?"
"Justin....what would you like me to do to Britney's hair?" Angie asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Huh?" he asked, looking up from the book he was reading.
"We're going to change her hair....what would you like to see?"
Britney started to laugh. "Whatever it is, don't believe him."
Justin set his book down and walked over to where she was sitting. He stood behind her and looked at her in the mirror.
"Hmmmm," he said, scratching his chin.
"Justin," Britney laughed. "Just trim it Angie."
He whispered something in Angie's ear and her smile brightened and she nodded.
"No, whatever it is, no," Britney protested.
"Oh come on....where's your adventurous spirit?" Justin asked. "Trust me."
"And me," Angie added.
Britney stared at Justin's reflection and then nodded. "Okay.....but only because I don't have any publicity things coming up," she pointed.
He chuckled. "Yes ma'am."
