Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 31
Mid October 2004...
Justin reached over Britney and grabbed the hpt stick. Britney snaked her hand into his as he looked at it.
"What does a dot mean?" he asked, squinting at it.
"A dot?" she asked, sitting up and glancing over his shoulder. She laughed. "Justin, that's a minus sign."
He let out his breath. "Oh.....whew."
She rested her head against his shoulder.
"I mean I would have been happy if you were....."
"I know, you don't have to explain. Let's get rid of the evidence and go back downstairs and spend time with your mother."
He gave her a quick kiss. "Sounds good to me."
Britney threw everything away while Justin went ahead on downstairs. When his mom looked up at him he smiled and shook his head no. She winked at him and then Mackenzie started to get fussy.
"Awwww, you're tired aren't you, angel?" Justin asked, taking her from his mother.
He held her against his chest even though she was trying to fight him. He started to sway back and forth when Britney joined them. She sat down next to Lynn and laid her head back against the back of the couch.
"I can't wait to go home and be in one place for a minute," she sighed.
Lynn reached over and rubbed Britney's leg. "Where are you guys going to live?"
Britney opened her eyes and looked up at Justin who was still rocking Mackenzie back and forth before looking at a woman who she felt almost as close to as she did her mother.
"Most likely Justin's house. There's more room," she laughed.
Lynn laughed as well while Justin smiled.
"It's a great house," Lynn said.
Britney nodded. "Yeah it is. I think the set-up of it will be better for Mackenzie, anyway. Do I get to do a little redecorating?" she asked Justin.
He softly chuckled. "You may redecorate a few rooms but there's a couple that are off limits."
She giggled. "I think I know which ones."
"Yes, don't you dare touch the sports room or he'll throw a fit," Lynn said.
Justin shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I will not," he said quietly. "I might get a little upset...."
Britney laughed.
Justin looked down and noticed that Mackenzie's eyes were closed and her breathing was steady. "I'm going to go take her up," he said.
He took her over to his mom and Britney and let them both kiss the top of her head and say good night and then proceeded up the stairs.
"I'm so happy for the two of you," Lynn said, shaking Britney's leg a little.
"I am too Lynn. Strange how we got here, though, isn't it?"
"Things happen for reasons, I've always believed that. Even after your breakup and it hurt me to see Justin in so much pain, I knew there was a reason for it...."
Britney looked down. That was one thing she hated to remember was how much hurt they both caused each other during that time.
"I just wonder...." Britney started.
"Wonder what?"
"What was the point of that whole time, though? I mean we just ended back up together and we lost a year out of each other's lives...."
Lynn shook her head. "You can't look at it that way. Don't you think that separation made you two stronger as a couple now? Now you know what it's like to not be a part of his life....now you have Mackenzie."
Britney smiled as she thought about her daughter. "God works in mysterious ways...."
"I believe so," Lynn chuckled. "Justin told me about the pregnancy test."
"Did he tell you it was negative?"
Lynn nodded. "How do you feel about that?"
Britney stared straight ahead and thought about it. She knew she could tell Lynn what she was feeling.
"Mostly relieved but there's a bit of disappointment. Our lives have to be juggled around so much as it is with one baby, I don't know what we'd do with two right now...."
Lynn nodded. "You two have awhile before you have to worry about being parents to more children."
"That was a miracle," Justin said as he came back into the room. "She didn't even wake up when I laid her in her crib."
He sat down on the chair next to the couch.
"She got a lot of attention today. She's tired," Britney chuckled.
"I wish you guys could have stayed longer," Lynn said, resting her head on her hand that was propped against the couch. "But I understand you want to try to get back into a routine of a normal life."
They both nodded. "Yeah....but you and dad will be back in LA soon, right?"
"Of course."
"Good," Britney smiled at her.
"So any ideas on when you want to get married?"
Justin chuckled as he looked at his hands. "You don't beat around the bush, do you mom?"
She smiled at them. "Well I like to know when to plan things."
"We'll probably have to sit down with Johnny and schedule it in somewhere," Britney laughed.
"God, with our schedules we better just get it over with next weekend. I don't think I'm doing anything, are you?" he asked Britney.
She chuckled. "I don't think so. How does Vegas sound?"
"Whoa now, don't you two even dare think about eloping without your mama's around," Lynn interrupted.
Both Justin and Britney laughed.
A few days later Britney's house was up for sale.
"I wonder when we'll hear something about someone being interested in it?" she asked, looking at the sales sheet the realtor sent her.
Justin walked up behind her and squeezed her shoulder.
"It's prime property," he said. "It probably won't be long."
She sighed and set the paper down.
"I've already got a new theme for Mackenzie's room picked out," she smiled.
"Mackenzie's room?" he chuckled. "I thought you'd want to work on the master bedroom or the great room or something."
"Well I do, but you know what's in now for infants?"
He shook his head as he sat down at the table across from her.
"Rabbits."
He slowly nodded. "Okay."
"So I think Mackenzie and I will go shopping today. I'll let her pick out her own stuff...."
Justin chuckled. "Well, okay then. Oh, don't forget we have that call with Johnny today."
"Not until four, right?" she asked as she stood up.
"Right."
She kissed him and walked out of the kitchen.
Four o'clock....
"Yeah Johnny, we're both here," Justin said over the speaker phone in his office.
"Hi Johnny," Britney said.
"Hey Brit. How's that precious little girl doing?"
Britney giggled. "She's doing great, thanks."
"Good....good. How was your trip?"
"The trip was amazing. Actually that's why we needed to talk to you," Justin said.
"You want to do a concert special from there or something?" Johnny chuckled.
Britney and Justin both laughed. "Hey, that's not a bad idea," Justin said, scratching his chin. "But actually it's about what happened on the trip that we need to talk to you about...."
"You're not pregnant are you?" he asked in a cautious tone.
Britney's eyes got big. "Umm not that we know of.....no Johnny, we got engaged."
He started to chuckle. "Well I really was hoping I'd see the day.....I'm so happy for you guys. As long as this is what will make the three of you happy."
"I think it is," Justin said, smiling over at Britney. She nodded.
"Good, so what does this have to do with me, besides knowing about it for publicity sake and the sake that I'm like family to you and I would want to know?" he chuckled.
"Well we'll have to schedule a wedding in there somewhere," Britney stared.
"Yeah so we just wanted to give you a heads up. We're thinking about next spring...."
"Spring, huh? Okay, I'll look at what we've got for you. I'm heading out to LA next week anyway and I was going to meet up with you so we could look at what you've got planned. This is hard scheduling you guys around each other, I have to tell you."
They could both tell he was saying it with a smile. Even though he was their manager, he was a friend first and he had watched these two grow into the individuals they were today.
"Yeah, we're a pain but you love us anyway," Justin said.
"Yeah. Well we know for sure you've got studio time in Virginia in November, Justin but I'll go over the awards shows coming up with both of you next week...."
Britney looked up at Justin when Johnny mentioned Virginia. He kept looking down at the phone.
"Sounds great. Thanks Johnny."
"No problem. Congratulations guys. I really am happy for you."
"Bye Johnny," Britney said before Justin pressed the release button.
"When were you going to tell me?"
Justin still wasn't looking at her. He could tell she was upset.
"I got an email about it yesterday," he said quietly.
She stood up. "J, don't start this.....please don't start this."
He looked up at her. "Don't start what?"
"Not telling me things. I don't want you to keep anything from me."
He looked back down. "I know. I didn't mean to. It's just that you were out when I got the email and I forgot about it when you got back because....well, we got a little distracted and I just....." he took a deep breath. "It just never seemed like a right time to ruin the moment."
She ran a hand across her face.
"It never will when it comes to our schedules...."
"You're right. I'm sorry...."
She sat back down and took a deep breath. "So.....you'll be away in November? How long?"
"I want you and Mackenzie to come with me," he said, grabbing her hand.
"This is for your next solo album?"
He nodded.
"So when you mentioned it the other day, that you wanted to do this because you had ideas floating around in your head, you already knew that it was being planned?"
Her tone wasn't too friendly.
"I had mentioned it to Johnny before the trip...."
They stared at each other.
"What Brit.....so you don't want me to do this? I never thought we'd hold each other back when it came to each other's careers."
"I'm not holding you back. I just wish you had talked to me about this the whole time. I thought we always talked about our hopes and dreams with each other. I feel like you secretly planned this and now that plans are actually being made you have to tell me now," she said, raising her voice a little.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, getting annoyed with her. "I didn't keep anything from you. How many times did either of us talk about our careers when were were alone? I didn't want to talk careers, I wanted to talk about our daughter or about us...."
She stood up and walked around the island in the middle of the kitchen and shook her head.
Mackenzie started to cry from her play pen in the other room.
"I'll get her," Justin said, standing up and going into the great room. "Come here, angel. What's wrong?"
Usually he could tell her cries but he couldn't put a finger on this one.
As soon as he picked her up, she stopped crying. She rested her head against his shoulder and started to play with the button on his shirt.
He walked back into the kitchen with her.
"She okay?" Britney asked.
"Yeah, she stopped crying when I picked her up," he said before giving Mackenzie a kiss on the top of her head. "What do you want me to do?" he asked in a softer tone than he had been using.
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't want to hold you back, J. I just wish I had known about your feelings about this all along."
He nodded and glanced down at Mackenzie as she made a cute soft noise.
"Well, for the record, I didn't mean to keep it away from you, it just kinda happened that way with everything going on. When we talk to Johnny we can look at both of our schedules and see what's in store for both of us in the next year or so...."
"My mom read a script she really thought I'd like....."
He perked up. "Oh really? When would that be filming?"
She shrugged as she let her fingers caress the countertop.
"Not sure. I haven't even read it so....."
Justin walked over to where she was standing and Mackenzie held her arms out to her mommy so Britney took her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Justin wrapped his arm around Britney's back, leaned down and gave her a kiss.
"I can't imagine my life without either of you in it," he said, his head was resting against hers and his eyes were closed.
"I can't either," she said, trying not to get choked up.
