Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 34
Late November 2004...
"What?" Lynn asked, stepping up to stand behind Britney.
She held onto Britney's shoulders when she saw that the play pen was empty.
"Who has her?" Britney asked, in a panicked tone.
"Honey, the only adults left were down in that kitchen. Everyone else has gone."
Britney turned around and tears came to her eyes.
"Lynn," she pleaded.
"Sweetie, this is Millington....nothing happened to her," she said, looking over her shoulder to see if the baby got out somehow and was wandering around the room.
"What's going on?" Justin asked, a little out of breath from running up the stairs. "I heard Britney scream."
"Mackenzie's not here," she said, walking into Justin's arms and burying her face in his chest.
"What do you mean she's not here?" he asked looking at his mom.
"She wasn't in the play pen when Britney came up to check on her. I'm going to go back downstairs and ask anyone if they know anything," Lynn said, trying to stay calm.
She started to head back toward the stairs when she heard voices coming from one of the other bedrooms. She turned around and gently knocked on the door that was partially cracked open and pushed it open.
"Boys?" she asked and then smiled when she saw Stephen sitting there with Mackenzie in his lap. Jonathon was sitting across from him and he was holding up a stuffed toy in front of her. "Justin!" she yelled out into the hallway.
"Where are you?" Justin asked from the hall.
"In here," she said waving at him as she stepped back out quickly.
"What?" he asked, stopping in the doorway, Britney was behind him. "Oh thank God," he said.
Britney stuck her head under his arm and ran into the room and scooped Mackenzie up off of Stephen's lap. This move startled him and he started to whimper a little.
"What are you guys doing?" Justin asked walking over to his brothers and rubbing the top of Jonathon's head. He was using a comforting tone with them.
"She started to cry while we were playing up here so Stephen said we should get her. I changed her diaper," he said nodding his head toward the trash can.
"You did, did you?" Justin asked. "How did you know how to do that?"
"I watched you," he said proudly.
Britney was still standing next to them, rocking Mackenzie back and forth in her arms.
"It's okay Stephen," Justin said, realizing that he was a little upset. "We were just worried when we couldn't find her."
He held out his arms for his youngest brother to come into.
"Next time come tell somebody, okay?" Justin asked gently.
Both Jonathon and Stephen nodded.
"I'm sorry, Britney," Jonathon said, lowering his head. "I didn't mean to worry you."
Justin looked up at Britney to make sure she would respond.
"It's okay. I was just scared to death."
"She was a little hungry....she saw our pieces of cobbler so I gave her a tiny bit of it," Jonathon said. "I hope that was okay."
Justin smiled. "Well it's not the best diet in the world but she's got good taste."
"I'm going to get her sippy cup," Britney said, leaving the room.
Lynn smiled at Justin and followed Britney.
"Is Britney mad at us?" Jonathon asked.
Justin shook his head. "I don't think so. She was just scared. It will be all right, okay?"
They both nodded.
Justin leaned over and gave both of his brothers a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room.
When he rejoined Britney, she was in the living room, holding Mackenzie on her lap. Mackenzie was leaning back in Britney's arms with her sippy cup to her mouth, drinking away.
Britney glared up at Justin.
"What?" he asked, sitting down next to Britney.
Mackenzie's eyes followed her daddy's voice and she looked up at him.
"Hey baby," he said, leaning down and kissing the top of her head.
"You know what," Britney said.
"No.....actually, I don't."
He didn't like her tone.
"I can't believe your brothers did that to us...."
"Brit, they thought they were helping. They did a good job....I think it's kinda cute....."
Wrong thing to say.
"Cute? Anything could have happened to her. And your family," she said, flicking her wrist toward the kitchen, "just sits in there and let's us sleep, knowing we have a sleeping baby upstairs...."
"Well what kind of parents are we falling asleep like that anyway," he said sarcastically.
She glared at him again. "Let's go, Justin," she said in a monotone voice.
"Fine," he said, standing up to tell his family they were leaving.
Later that night they were getting ready to go to bed. Justin didn't say much else to Britney and slid under the covers of the bed. Britney glanced over at him as she changed into her nightgown. She checked on Mackenzie one more time in the play pen in the corner of the room and then slid into the other side of the bed. She looked down at Justin, who's back was to her, before leaning over and turning off the light on the nightstand next to her.
She slid down further under the covers and laid on her back, staring up at the ceiling in the dark.
Finally Justin turned over and was laying on his side, facing Britney. He reached over and started to caress her stomach.
"I was just scared....." she said.
"I know you were...." he mumbled.
"And I know I overreacted. I hope your family didn't think I was being rude."
"I don't think they'll ever think of you as rude."
She reached over and entwined her fingers with his that are resting on her stomach.
"I overheard you talking to my mom and aunt this evening when you were setting the table...." he started.
She was quiet for a minute.
"Talking about what?" she asked softly.
"About having more children."
She turned her head to look at him. "You want to have more children, don't you?"
He moved his hand over to touch her cheek as they stared at each other in the dark.
"Yes, of course I do," he said softly.
"Okay," she said letting out a sigh of relief. "....that's what I thought...."
"But I guess we never talked about when, huh?"
Now she realized what he was getting at.
"No, we haven't. I mean.....if we hadn't had Mackenzie when we did, when would you have liked to have started a family?"
He thought about it for a moment.
"I don't know. I guess I figured we'd just know when the time was right."
"We can't always do that, Justin. Our lives have to be planned out...."
He stopped her. "No, they don't. What happened when you got pregnant with Mackenzie? We both changed our schedules around and it worked out okay....."
"Yeah, it did," she sighed.
"But I guess it just kind of upset me when I heard you say that you don't want anymore for awhile. Because awhile could mean anything....two years...ten years...."
She giggled. "I don't think it means that long. I don't know what it means. I just know that I don't want to have any in the next couple of years. I think we're going to have too much going on....and we've already got our hands full with her...."
"Maybe when Mackenzie's five, that seems like a good age for her to be an older sister, doesn't it?"
She leaned in and kissed him. "Yes, it does. But Justin...let's not set that in stone, okay?"
He chuckled against her lips. "Okay."
Back to Virginia a few days later....
"Come on....let's go surprise daddy," Britney said, pushing Mackenzie's stroller down the hallway of the recording studio.
She noticed the red light was on, which meant they were in the middle of recording so she quietly opened the door and pushed the stroller into the studio. She smiled when she saw Justin standing at the microphone down in the recording studio. It warmed her heart to hear his beautiful voice.
As quietly as she could she got Mackenzie out of the stroller and stood behind Pharrell and Chad. They were busy pushing buttons and adjusting levels while Justin was singing. She watched him as he stood in the studio with his earphones on and his eyes shut as he sang a song with beautiful lyrics about an angel...his angel.
Suddenly she realized it was a song about Mackenzie and tears came to her eyes. Pharrell heard her sniff and looked over his shoulder and smiled at her before turning back to the board.
"Okay J, that was good. Why don't we take a break?" Pharrell said into the microphone.
"Why man? I was in the groove," Justin replied.
"You have a couple of visitors, man and I think one of them needs a hug from you," Pharrell said.
Britney chuckled as she wiped the tears from her face.
"Da da da da da," Mackenzie kept repeating.
"Hey guys," Britney said, looking down at Chad and Pharrell.
"Hey Brit, how are you?" Chad asked as the door from the studio opened.
"I'm good."
"Hey," Justin said walking over to them. "Awww, what's wrong?" he asked when he noticed Britney was crying.
"Nothing," she said going into his arms and letting her tears flow again.
Justin helped support Mackenzie in her arms by putting his arm under her arm that was holding her.
"Think about what song you were just singing," Pharrell said.
"I'm going to go get something to drink anyone want anything?" Chad asked, standing up.
"I can't decide, I think I'll go with you and look myself," Pharrell said leaving the room with him.
"So you liked the song?" Justin asked.
"Da da," Mackenzie said, looking up at her daddy.
"Hey there angel," he said leaning down and kissing her forehead.
Britney nodded and wiped her tears away again but she still held on to him and leaned against him.
"I was going to bring the rough copy of this song home to you in the next couple of days," he said, his lips were gently touching the top of her head.
"It's so.....so beautiful, just from what I heard. Mackenzie's so lucky to have a daddy like you," she said, looking up at him.
He leaned down and kissed her. When he pulled away he looked at his two beautiful girls and gave them both a quick kiss on the forehead.
"I have great inspiration," he said. "Oh but you must not have heard the beginning because there's a line dedicated to my angel's mommy...."
"There is?" she asked, her eyes getting watery again.
He chuckled. "Yeah. Stick around, I think that's what I'm going to touch up next."
"We're not going anywhere," she smiled at him.
Once Chad and Pharrell returned both of his girls gave Justin a kiss for good luck and he went back into the booth.
Britney had Mackenzie on her lap and sat by the door and looked through the glass as he sang. He made sure he made eye contact with them while he sang the beautiful words to the song. At one point he got so emotional he had to stop.
"That was good, J, I'm keeping that man," Pharrell said.
Justin chuckled and nodded. "We'll see."
By this time Britney was crying. She kept holding Mackenzie close to her and would rest her cheek against hers while they watched Justin sing. Pretty soon Mackenzie fell asleep in Britney's arms and Justin looked up as he sang the last note and smiled at the sight in front of him.
"I love you," he said before Pharrell gave him the thumbs up sign.
"I love you too," Britney mouthed back to him.
