Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 49
Mid July 2005.......
Justin's eyes shot open when he felt a cold foot rubbing up against his leg. He turned over in bed to see Britney, sound asleep, lying next to him in his Pittsburgh hotel room.
When had she gotten there? He hadn't even heard her come in last night....or more like early this morning. He maneuvered himself so that he was lying on his side, facing her so he could study her features. He really wanted to wake her but he knew it had been a long day for her yesterday and that she probably hadn't gotten to bed until a couple of hours ago.
A strand of hair fell across her eyes so he gently moved it. Now that he'd touched her, he couldn't stop so he gently traced the lines on her face, his eyes following his fingers.
"My beautiful princess," he whispered.
He lifted his head and glanced over her shoulder at the clock. It was nine am. Mackenzie was usually awake by now. Just as soon as he realized this he heard her from her crib in the corner of the room.
"Da da," she said softly.
He let go of Britney and carefully got out of bed so he didn't wake her.
"Hey angel," he whispered as he picked her up. "Let's go get your wah wah so we don't wake up mommy yet."
He carried her out of the bedroom and into the common room. He noticed a note from his mom saying that she went shopping. He set Mackenzie down and filled her sippy cup with juice and handed it to her so it kept her distracted while he changed her diaper.
"Okay....you sit here," he said, setting her down by the couch and he turned on the TV. "I'm going to fix some coffee."
She stood by the couch, watching the cartoon he turned on. She noticed her doll was sticking out of the diaper bag so she waddled over to it and tried to pull it out but it was wedged in there pretty good. She set her sippy cup down and used both hands to pull at the doll but all she ended up doing was pulling the diaper bag off of the chair, which made her loose her balance. She fell back and hit her head on the corner of the coffee table.
When Justin heard the thud he quickly turned to see Mackenzie lying on the floor in between the couch and the coffee table and almost immediately she started to scream. He set the pot down and rushed over to her.
"Uh oh.....what happened?" he asked as he picked her up and sat down with her on the couch.
She was screaming so loud so he tried to muffle the noise by holding her close to his chest. He rubbed the back of her head and felt a lump.
"Oh God, Mackenzie.....you hit your head?"
He moved his hand and tried to get a better look at the bump but she kept trying to get away from him because it hurt.
The door to the bedroom opened and Britney stood in the doorway, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"What happened?" she asked.
Her voice was hoarse with sleep.
"She hit her head," he said over the screaming.
Britney walked over to them and sat down on the couch next to Justin. She rubbed Mackenzie's back, leaned over and kissed the little girl's temple.
"Hey there baby. Did you hurt yourself?"
As soon as Mackenzie heard Britney's voice she turned her head to face her and started to cry harder as she held her arms out for Britney to take her. She reached over and got her from Justin, holding her close to her as she rocked back and forth.
"Shhhh, it's okay. Mommy's here now."
Justin smiled at the site. He leaned over, kissed Britney's temple before standing up and going back over to continue making coffee. He had a feeling he and Britney were going to need it.
Finally, Mackenzie's crying stopped and she clung to Britney. The tears still clung to her cheeks.
"Here," Justin said, handing Britney a cup of coffee.
"Thanks," she said as she took it.
"Sorry this is how you had to be greeted this morning," he chuckled as he sat down next to her. He leaned back and stretched out his free arm. Britney scooted back so that she was snug against his side.
"It's called being a mom," she shrugged.
"Hi," he smiled at her.
She looked away from Mackenzie and smiled back. They were already close so all she had to do was lean in a little closer so he could kiss her on the lips.
"I didn't even hear you come in this morning," he said, licking his lips as he pulled back a little.
"I tried to be quiet. You don't know how bad I wanted to pick her up out of her crib and hold her," she said, rubbing Mackenzie's back with her free hand. "But I saw how dead asleep you both were so I slid in next to you."
"You could have woke me up," he said before taking a sip of coffee.
"It's okay. We all got more sleep that way, right?"
He nodded while the cup was to his lips. "More rest so we have more energy for tonight."
"Tonight?" she questioned.
"Another show.....and then who knows?" he shrugged but she could see a little mischief in his eyes.
She giggled. "You never know, do you?"
Mackenzie turned her head so her face was now facing Justin. She sighed before closing her eyes.
"Did you feel the bump?" he asked.
He set his cup down and tried to find the bump on Mackenzie's head.
"Yeah. Should we take her to the doctor?"
"I thought of that," he nodded. "I'll call down to the front desk and see if they can find someone to make a house call."
He stood up and went over to the phone that was on the desk.
Britney leaned down and kissed the top of Mackenzie's head.
By the time Lynn got back the doctor was examining Mackenzie.
"What's going on?" she asked Justin, who walked over to her when he heard the door opening.
"She hit her head and there's a pretty big bump so we felt better calling a doctor," he said.
"Oh my. Hi Britney," she said, walking over to the couch where she was sitting with Mackenzie and the doctor.
"Hi mom," Britney said, standing up and giving Lynn a hug.
"What a thing to come back to huh? How was your trip?"
"It went well," she nodded. "I got a lot of work done in those two weeks. I was very lucky they worked straight through all thirteen days or I would still be there."
"Well, I'm glad they did too. These two missed you like crazy."
Justin smiled at them.
"Excuse me," Lynn said before leaving the room.
The doctor stood up. "Well, she doesn't seem to have a concussion. Just a bad knot on the head. If she seems to be fussy, you might give her some baby Tylenol because she's probably got a headache. Other than that, she isn't showing any signs of more than that," he smiled.
"That's good news," Britney said, scooping Mackenzie up in her arms.
"Thanks, doctor. We didn't think it was anything more than that but you can never take a chance," Justin said as he showed the doctor to the door.
"No problem. You three take care."
"Thank you," Britney said before he left. She kissed Mackenzie on the cheek. "See, you are just like your daddy....hard headed."
"Hey," Justin said, rubbing his head. "That can be a good thing."
"In this case it is."
Lynn came back into the room. "What did the doctor say?"
"She's fine. She'll probably just have a headache," Justin said.
His cell phone rang in the bedroom.
"Excuse me, I'm expecting a call from Chris," he said before leaving the room.
"You want to help me?" Lynn asked Britney before walking back into her bedroom.
"What are you doing?" she asked, following her.
"Packing," Lynn said over her shoulder.
"Why?" Britney asked, setting Mackenzie down on the bed. She grabbed one of the colorful scarves that was sitting next to her.
"Because I'm going back to Memphis today."
Britney looked around the room. There wasn't anything to pack so she figured Lynn just wanted to talk.
"Thanks for staying with them this long. I know it made me feel better," she said as she took the other end of the scarf that Mackenzie held.
"You know you don't have to thank me. It's my pleasure watching this little one. I'm just glad that the two of you can have the support you do so you can still pay some attention to your careers once in awhile," she shot a smile up at Britney.
"Yeah. We've very blessed. This was a long two weeks though," she said, staring down at Mackenzie.
"It will never get easier," Lynn added.
Britney smiled up at her. "Awww, do you still miss Justin when you're not with him?"
Lynn put her hand on her hip. "Yes, of course I do. He's my baby boy no matter what."
Britney blushed. "That's cute. I know the way I feel about this one so I can only imagine that it doesn't get easier as time goes by."
Lynn shook her head. "Can I have that sweetie?" she asked, taking the scarf from Mackenzie.
Mackenzie started to pout so Lynn gave it back to her quickly before she started to cry.
"Mackenzie, why don't you put that in grandma's case, right there," Britney pointed to a spot in the suitcase. "Go on," she encouraged.
Mackenzie looked up at Britney, then at Lynn and crawled over to the suitcase. She gently laid it in the suitcase and looked up at Lynn with a smile on her face.
"Thank you very much. You were a big help."
She leaned down and gave Mackenzie a kiss on the lips. She glanced down at her watch. "I better hurry. There should be a cab waiting for me downstairs," she said over her shoulder on her way to double check the bathroom.
"Oh....wow, I didn't realize you were leaving so quickly," Britney said, picking Mackenzie up again. "I'll let Justin know you're about ready."
She walked into their bedroom on the other side of the suite. Justin's back was to her while he was still on the phone. She gently touched his back and he glanced over at her. He had a concerned look on his face.
"Your mom is about ready to leave."
"Leave where?" he asked. "Hold on, Chris."
"Oh, I thought you knew. She's going back to Memphis. There's a cab waiting for her downstairs to take her to the airport."
"What? I didn't know anything about it. Chris let me call you back. Okay....bye."
He hung up the phone.
"Did she say why?" he asked, walking into the common room.
Lynn came walking out with her suitcase in tow.
"Mom, what are you doing?"
"Going home. Britney's back so you don't need me. I want to see my husband."
Justin looked down at her bags. "Okay but I thought you would leave later today or something. This seems so rushed."
"There was an earlier flight, I thought I'd catch it."
She leaned into him for a hug. He kissed her cheek before wrapping her in his arms.
"Thanks for everything," he said.
Mackenzie started to ask for her wah wah so Britney walked over to the mini-fridge to get her juice.
"Talk things through with her. Don't let this stew," Lynn whispered to Justin before pulling apart.
He nodded.
Lynn walked over to Britney and Mackenzie. "Give grandma a big kiss and hug," she said, holding her arms out for Mackenzie.
Once Mackenzie had her sippy cup she willingly went into Lynn's arms. She kissed her and gave her a good squeeze before holding out a free arm to Britney, who wrapped her arms around Lynn's waist.
"You two girls take care of my boy over there."
"We will," Britney said, smiling up at her mother-in-law.
"Love you."
"We love you too," Britney returned.
"Wuv yoo," Mackenzie said.
They laughed before Lynn set Mackenzie down on the floor.
"I'll walk you down," Justin said.
"Bye," Lynn said one more time to Mackenzie and Britney.
When Justin came back up, Britney was checking her messages while Mackenzie sat on the floor and played with her doll. He immediately went into the bedroom to finish his call with Chris.
Once he was finished, he returned to the common room.
"We leave Pittsburgh tonight after the show, right?" Britney asked.
She was spread out on the couch, with her head back and her eyes closed.
"Yeah. We've got DC tomorrow."
He sat down next to her. "You feeling okay?" he asked, taking one of her hands that was resting on her stomach.
"Yeah," she sighed, opening her eyes. "Just tired."
"Well, why don't you take a nap before we have to leave. Looks like Mackenzie might join you," he said, nodding towards their daughter who was now laying on her side, still holding her doll.
"You sure?" she asked.
"Yep. I'll wake you when it's time to leave."
He leaned over and kissed her. It started off as a quick kiss but then he realized how long it had been since he'd really kissed his wife so he didn't pull away. His lips encouraged hers to open and deepened the kiss. Her hand cupped the side of his head by the time they pulled apart.
"Now how am I supposed to rest after that?" she whispered.
He chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose quickly. "I'm sure once your head hits that pillow you won't have a problem."
She stood up and picked up Mackenzie on her way to the bedroom. She stopped in the doorway and turned back to face him.
"We need to talk...."
He nodded. "We will....later."
She nodded and closed the door behind her.