Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 42
Early January 2005.......
"There we go," Justin said as he helped Britney up the front steps leading to their LA home.
"Justin, I'm not an invalid," she said, letting him open the door.
"No, of course you're not but the doctor made me promise that you get as much rest that you can for another week," he said as he let her walk inside.
She stopped and grabbed his arm. "We get to see our baby," Britney said as if it just dawned on her.
Justin chuckled. "Mom.....dad?" he yelled.
"Oh....Justin, in here," Lynn yelled from the kitchen.
Justin smiled down at Britney as they started toward the kitchen.
Lynn stood up and walked over to them. She held Britney's shoulders as she looked her over and then carefully pulled her into a gentle hug.
"We're so glad you're okay," she said.
"I am too," Britney chuckled.
When they pulled apart she hugged Justin while Britney looked over at her daughter sitting in the highchair with pudding all over her face.
"Look at you," she said, tears coming to her eyes. "Mommy missed you so so much." She started walking towards her.
"Remember, Brit...." Justin started to say.
"I know. Will you bring her to me?" she asked as she sat down on one of the chairs.
"Of course," Justin smiled.
He walked over and picked Mackenzie up. He kissed her as he carried her over to Britney and gently set her down on her lap. Britney wrapped her arms around her and kissed the side of her head over and over. She grabbed a napkin off of the table and started to wipe her face, which she didn't like much.
"You're so beautiful," she said. "Even with a messy face."
"Yes, she is," Justin said as he ran his hand down the back of Mackenzie's head.
Lynn stood by the doorway and watched the family reunite. She turned her head when she heard footsteps walking down the hall.
"Hey," Paul said.
"Hi," she said as she turned back around and he wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her cheek.
"When did they get here?" he asked nodding toward his son and daughter-in-law.
"Just a few minutes ago," she smiled.
Justin looked up and saw Paul. "Dad," he said, standing up and walking over to his parents.
"Good to see you," he said as he hugged Justin. "Britney, how are you doing?" The three of them started walking toward the table.
"I'm good, Paul......uh, dad, thanks," she giggled.
"Good....we were a little worried about you," he said, squeezing her shoulder.
"Now that I'm home, I'm fine," she said, squeezing her daughter a little tighter.
"I just made supper, are you two hungry?" Lynn asked.
"Starved," Justin said, rubbing his stomach. "Britney needs to eat too."
Britney rolled her eyes at that remark as she played with Mackenzie's hair. "I think you need a haircut, baby."
Mackenzie looked up at her with her big blue eyes and smiled.
"Ma ma ma ma ma," she started to sing.
Britney couldn't take her eyes off of her, she was so in awe of her daughter.
"She wrote a song for me," Britney giggled.
"And a very good song it is," Justin said, sitting down next to them.
Mackenzie held out her arms when she saw Justin so he took her from Britney and sat her on his lap.
"So, do you see Dr. Phillips tomorrow?" Lynn asked as she took something out of the oven.
"Yeah. I mean I just saw Dr. Ruiz late yesterday before we left but Dr. Phillips wants to make sure that he checks me out too, I guess."
"Will this postpone the movie at all?" Paul asked. He was sitting across the table from them.
"I don't know," she said screwing up her nose. "I'm not supposed to report there for another two weeks so hopefully I'll be back to normal by then."
Once they were finished with dinner Justin looked over at Britney.
"You should get up to bed," he said.
"I won't argue with you," she said before stifling a yawn.
"Don't worry, we'll clean up down here," Lynn said as she stood up and started clearing the table.
They stood up and Justin walked behind Britney on their way up to their bedroom. She stopped midway on the stairs.
"Oh, I need to say goodnight to Mackenzie," she said.
"I'll bring her up when you're settled, okay?"
"Okay," she said before continuing up the stairs.
"You want me to help you take a bath or a shower?" Justin asked once they entered their bedroom.
"A bath sounds nice," she said. "But once you help me into the water, I think I can manage," she giggled.
"You sure?" he asked, giving her an evil smile.
She laughed and lightly punched his arm. "You can't turn me on because there's nothing I can do about it so yes, I'm sure."
He leaned down and kissed her cheek.
"Good point. I'll be back, go sit down."
"Yes sir," she said, sitting next to her suitcase.
She opened it up and started pulling out her clothes and setting them on the bed.
"I'll make a pile of dirty stuff and stuff that can be hung back up," she yelled.
"What?" he asked, standing in the doorway. Once he saw what she was doing he said, "Oh okay. The bath is almost ready."
She set the shirt she was looking at down on her lap. "Justin?"
He turned back around to face her. "Huh?"
"Thanks."
He smiled at her. "For what?"
"For taking care of me."
His brows creased and he walked over to the bed, moved the pile of clothes so he could sit down and rested his hand directly behind her on the bed so he could lean in closer to her. He kissed her cheek and then her neck.
"You never have to thank me for that."
"I know, but....." she started to get choked up so she stopped talking.
He wrapped his arm around her and brought her closer to him.
"Your bath should be ready."
"Okay," she said.
She let him help her undress, even though she could have done it herself, it was fun having him wait on her like this. She held his hand as she slowly eased into the tub.
"I'm going to go back downstairs, you need anything?" he asked, looking around.
"No J, I'm fine," she said lowering into the bath a little and closing her eyes.
After helping his mom and dad clean up a little he brought Mackenzie upstairs and got her ready for bed.
"We're going to go see mommy one more time," he told her.
Mackenzie's eyes lit up when Justin said the word mommy.
When they entered the bedroom, Britney was pulling on her nightgown.
"Hey, I was going to help you out of the bath," Justin said.
"It's okay. I managed."
She turned and smiled at the two of them. Without even reminding her that she couldn't hold Mackenzie, Britney crawled into bed and laid back as Justin laid Mackenzie down next to her. He kissed them both on the cheek and started to straighten up the room from unpacking.
Suddenly Mackenzie started to cry because she was tired and was trying to fight sleep but Britney couldn't do anything about it since she couldn't lift her. Justin had stepped out of the room to go do something and Britney started to get upset because she felt helpless.
"Justin," she tried yelling over the baby's screams. "Shhh, baby, it's okay. Daddy will be back in a minute."
She tried grabbing the baby against her stomach and rolling over with her so that she was on her back and Mackenzie was lying on her stomach but she was squirming too much.
"Shhh, it's okay," she said, rubbing Mackenzie's back. She was getting so upset that she started to cry herself.
Finally Justin came walking into the bedroom. When he saw how upset his wife was he took Mackenzie and sat down next to Britney, who turned her head away from him.
"What happened?" he asked as he got Mackenzie's crying to subside. He put his hand on Britney's leg.
"I couldn't make her stop," she cried. "Owwww," she said, because the crying made her stomach muscles hurt. She grabbed a pillow and held it to her stomach and curled up in a ball.
Justin left the room and put Mackenzie down in her crib and then returned to the room. He quickly washed up and then sat back down next to Britney on the bed. He started to rub her back since she was facing away from him.
"Brit?" he said softly. "I know you're not sleeping."
She rolled onto her back and looked up at him with her tear stained face. He gently wiped away the few stray tears that were sitting on her cheeks.
"I felt so helpless. I don't like feeling that way when it comes to Mackenzie."
"I was right downstairs...."
"But it felt like you were away twenty minutes or something, even though I'm sure it was only just a couple.... She wanted me to hold her and I couldn't...."
"Shhhhh, it's okay. Just give yourself a few more days to heal and you can pick her up all you want," he said, leaning in closer to her.
"I know," she pouted. "I'm being impatient."
She looked down and started to rub his thigh. "And I miss being with you....."
He bit his lower lip before speaking. "I know....I miss you too."
She reached up and pulled his face closer to hers. She licked her lips before touching them to his. She took her time kissing him and he let her take control of the kiss, keeping both of his hands on either side of her.
"I can do things for you," she whispered against his cheek.
"Brit," he said, pulling away. "As much as I can't believe I'm going to say this, I just want you to rest. You don't have to do anything for me, okay? The quicker you heal, the quicker we can do stuff for each other," he said with a lopsided grin.
She smiled and tried not to giggle. "I like the way you put that. You're right, I just need to lay here and be a vegetable."
"Just go to sleep. I'm going to go check on mom and dad downstairs one more time and then I'll be back up, okay?"
She closed her eyes and nodded.
"Hurry back," she yawned.
"I will," he said before leaning down and kissing her cheek.
"Dr. Ruiz was kind enough to overnight the x-rays he did, Britney," Dr. Phillips told her the next day. "It looks that if you had waited a little longer, you could have done more harm," he said, looking over the rim of his reading glasses at her.
"Well, the pain wouldn't let me wait," she chuckled.
"I would like to take one more x-ray of your abdomen now to make sure that the procedure looks clean. I'm sure he did a good job, but as your doctor, it will make me feel better."
She nodded. "I understand."
"Have you been taking it easy?" he asked.
"I'm trying. It's kind of hard with a ten month old crawling around."
He smiled. "How is Mackenzie?"
"She's growing like a weed and learning so fast," she said, beaming.
"Any plans to have any more little ones joining her soon?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
She shook her head. "No, Mackenzie was surprise enough," she chuckled. "Justin and I are going to wait a little bit, I think, before we add to the family."
"The two of you are very busy," he agreed before standing up. "I'll tell the nurse that we're going to set up a couple more x-rays. I'll take a look at them and as long as they look good to me, you won't need to come back for another eight or nine days."
"Doctor.....when will I be able to be off of light duty?"
"I'd wait until the end of the week, but take things carefully. Your abdomen muscles are still healing and dealing with the procedure. If you bend over to pick up Mackenzie and you still feel sore then put her down and wait another day and see how it feels then. Just don't overdo it."
She nodded and bit her lip.
"Anything else?" he asked.
"What about...." She covered her face with her hand and giggled. "I can't believe I'm embarrassed to ask this but I am a newlywed and...." she said, blushing.
He chuckled. "Again....wait until the end of the week and take things slowly. You'll know what you can and can't do. Your body will tell you."
"Okay, thank you."
He nodded and left the room.