Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 51
Mid August 2005.......
*Knock knock*
"Come in," Bryan said.
Britney slowly eased the door open. She poked her head inside the hospital room and saw her brother approaching her. He had the biggest grin on his face.
"Hey," she said, entering the room.
"Hey sis," he said, leaning down to hug her.
She squeezed him tight.
"I should have said, hey there daddy," she giggled. "How are you doing?" she asked, rubbing his arm.
"Great....can't you tell?" he chuckled.
"Well, the smile gives it away a little," she winked at him.
"Come on....meet your nephew," he said, taking her hand and leading her further into the room.
Lauren was sitting up in the bed, holding the latest addition to the Spears family.
"Hiiiiiiii," Britney said when her sister-in-law looked up.
"Hey there."
Britney leaned over the bed and kissed her cheek before peaking in the blanket. Lauren moved the blanket away so that Britney could see the baby's face.
"Oh my God, he's so precious," she said, tears welling up in her eyes.
Bryan stood behind her, still with a big smile on his face.
"Meet Evan James Spears," Bryan said, leaning over a bit so he could get a better look at his son.
"It's perfect," she said, looking at both of the parents.
"You want to hold him?" Lauren asked, holding Evan towards Britney.
"Of course," she chuckled, setting her purse down.
She took the baby from her carefully. The baby stirred a little and yawned once he was in Britney's arms.
"Oh my goodness," she said, moving the blanket away more so that she could see more of him. "You are so beautiful," she whispered to him. "I forgot how small they are," she said, looking up at Lauren.
"I know, it's amazing, isn't it?"
Britney nodded. She looked over and saw the empty chair so she sat down in it and rested Evan on her lap and opened up the blanket. She touched his tiny hands and toes.
"So soft," she said.
The phone rang so Bryan picked it up.
"I'm so glad you were already here in New York," Lauren said.
Britney looked up. "I am too but I would have flown out as soon as I heard," she chuckled. "Justin's shooting a video and then we're heading back to LA. But we're going to stop in Memphis and Kentwood on the way just to spend time with our families but I guess mama will be here now for a little bit, huh?"
Lauren smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I'm not sure for how long, though. My mom's at the hotel right now, resting. She was in the delivery room with us."
"That's great," Britney sighed. "I wish mama had been there with me."
"But you did have Justin...."
"Yeah....and he did such a good job."
"So did Bryan. I was so proud of him," Lauren giggled.
"Proud of who?" Bryan asked, standing on the other side of Lauren so he could rest his arm on her shoulder.
"You. You did good last night."
"Me? What about you? Add I did was say push."
They all laughed. "Oh, Justin sends his love and he can't wait to meet Evan but we couldn't find a babysitter on short notice so he's at the apartment with Mackenzie."
"I can't wait to see how Mackenzie is with the baby," Lauren said.
"Oh, I know, I thought of that too. I was telling her all about her cousin, she's excited."
Bryan chuckled at the two women.
"I thought mama and daddy would have been here," Britney said.
"They're down in the cafeteria," Bryan said. "They wanted to give us time alone."
Britney's eyes got big. "Oh, I can leave and come back later."
"Noooo, no no. You have to stay. We're fine, really. We'll have lots of alone time as a family," Lauren chimed in.
"Okay, but if you really want to be alone....."
"Sis, it's okay. We wanted you to be here. We're glad you came."
Britney smiled and looked back down at the baby.
"He's falling asleep. Gosh, he's so tiny."
"I took digital pictures," Britney said as she walked into the living room of their New York apartment. She stopped when she realized the room was empty. "Justin?"
She set her purse down and poked her head around to look into the kitchen. Nope, no one there. She headed upstairs and glanced into Mackenzie's room as she passed it. Finally she rounded the corner and stopped in the doorway to her bedroom. She placed her hand to her neck and smiled. Justin and Mackenzie were both asleep on the bed. Justin had a book resting against his chest, he had been reading to her. She walked into the room and gently picked up the book, setting it on the nightstand and then crawled in next to Justin. She rested her cheek against his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his waist. She could reach Mackenzie's leg with her fingers so she rested them there.
"How's the baby?" Justin whispered, which startled Britney, since she thought he was asleep.
She lifted her head and rested her chin on her hand so she could look at him.
"He's precious," she whispered back. "I can't wait for you to see him."
He smiled back and lifted her hair off of her back and then laid it back down.
"I can't wait either. Mackenzie kept talking about her cousin," he chuckled. "She can't wait to meet him."
"She's going to be a good big sister one day, huh?" Britney asked, raising her eyebrows.
Justin's eyes got big for a brief second. "Something you're not telling me?" he kidded.
"No.....I'm just saying. I mean you can't help but think about babies when you're around them."
"True," he said, lowering his head a little so he could kiss her forehead.
"So, the two of you spent the afternoon reading?"
"She was tired but wouldn't go to sleep so I brought her in here to read....it always gets her."
Britney nodded.
"You know.....when we get back to LA we need to join a play group or something. Mackenzie doesn't get to be around children her age that much." Her eyebrows were furrowed together.
"What brought that on?"
She shrugged and studied a freckle on his chest. "Just thinking about her and Evan when they're a little older, playing together and it dawned on me she's never been around other children."
"Evan? That's a nice name."
"Yes, Evan James....it really fits him. Oh, we have to upload the pictures so you can see how cute he is."
She sat up and pulled his hand so he'd move off of the bed.
"Okay. Let me try to take her to her room."
A few minutes later Britney had the camera hooked up to the computer and Justin was uploading the pictures.
"You should see Bryan....he's so happy and proud."
"I know the feeling," Justin said, putting his arm around Britney's back.
She sat down on his lap while the rest of the pictures uploaded. He started to click on the icons and brought up the first picture.
"Isn't he adorable?" Britney gushed.
Justin chuckled. "Very. Not as cute as Mackenzie, of course....."
"No, of course not. The only child who will be that cute will be our next one," she said, glancing back at him.
"Probably," he chuckled.
They continued looking at the pictures together.
"He's a Spears all right," Justin concluded.
"What makes you say that?" Britney asked as she studied one of the close-ups.
"Look at that nose. That's a Spears' nose."
She touched her nose without even realizing it. "You think?"
"Yeah. Mackenzie has that nose."
"I thought she had a combination of both of our noses."
He shook his head. "No....she's got your nose."
She leaned back so she was resting against his side. "Hmm. I never noticed."
Justin rolled his eyes. "You're her mother, you're supposed to notice these things. Did you get to see your parents while you were there?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I was just about to leave when they showed back up. Lauren's mom and dad are in town too but they had been at the hospital all night so they were at the hotel resting. I think her mom is going to be in New York for a couple of weeks."
"That's nice. I'm sure she'll be happy about that."
Britney nodded. "Being an aunt is going to be fun."
"So is being an uncle."
"Awwww, Uncle Justin. That's cute."
Justin laughed. "Okay.... So, when do they get to come home?"
"Tomorrow afternoon, I think. Lauren seemed to be doing pretty well so I don't know why they wouldn't let her leave already." She sighed. "You're going to have a long day tomorrow."
"You don't have to remind me," he grumbled.
"It's going to be a good video, though." She looked at him.
He nodded. "I think so. You going to come visit me?"
She smiled and nodded. "We can. It's going to be taped by MTV still, right?"
"Yeah.....but that's okay. They edit out so much anyway."
"Mommyyyy!" they both heard from a very groggy Mackenzie.
Britney stood up and headed toward her daughter's bedroom while Justin saved the pictures onto the computer.
"Mommmy," Mackenzie cried. She was standing up in her crib with tears running down her face.
"Maccckkeeennzzziiieeeeee," Britney said, doing a mock cry of her daughter. "What's going on with you, huh?" she asked as she reached over and picked the little girl up.
Mackenzie immediately wrapped her arms around Britney's neck and rested her head against her shoulder while her sobs subsided.
"You hungry?" Britney asked.
Mackenzie shook her head no.
"You're just still tired, aren't you?"
She walked into the family room with her and sat down.
"I saw your baby cousin today. He's really cute and he can't wait to meet you," Britney said. She rested her cheek on the top of Mackenzie's head. "His name is Evan."
"Evan?" Mackenzie repeated, almost too softly to hear.
"Very good. He's got a lot of dark hair and tiny little fingers and tiny little toes," she said, picking up Mackenzie's hand and then gently pinching her foot, which made Mackenzie giggle.
"What are you two talking about?" Justin asked as he sat down next to them.
"We're talking about her new cousin. What's his name?" she asked Mackenzie.
"Evan," she mumbled, trying to keep her eyes open.
Justin softly chuckled and then leaned down to kiss the back of her head.
"You're so smart."
"Have you talked to your mom yet?" Britney asked him.
"Yeah....she's expecting us in a few days. Oh and I told her about Evan," he smiled.
"Good. What was her reaction?"
"She was happy....of course. She wanted me to send Bryan and Lauren her best when I see them. Oh and she can't wait to hold another baby in her arms so she wants some kind of family get together soon."
Britney stared straight ahead with a half smile on her face. "That's cute."
Justin reached over to get the remote for the TV. He started to flip through the channels while Britney closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the back of the couch. She was starting to worry.....only slightly. She hadn't been on birth control for about a month now and she hadn't gotten pregnant yet. She wondered if there was a problem. No, she was being stupid.
"Britney?"
Her head snapped up. "Yeah?"
"Didn't you hear me?" Justin asked.
"What....no, I must have dozed for a second."
"I just asked if you had seen this before," he said, nodding toward the TV.
She looked at it but was only half paying attention. A month really wasn't a long time but it still made her nervous because she had gotten pregnant so easily last time. She just assumed it would happen that way again. But, she just started her period.
"Have you?" Justin asked.
"Have I what?"
He turned his body so he was facing her a little more. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing," she protested.
He shook his head. "You seem a little out of it. You tired?" he asked.
She shook her head.
He touched the back of his hand to her forehead. "Not feeling well?"
She took his hand away. "Justin, I'm fine. I was just zoning, that's all."
He cocked and eyebrow. "Okay. What do you say we order in tonight?"
"Nice change of subject. Sounds good."
He stood up and went to the kitchen to get the phone number he needed. Britney still sat there with her cheek resting on the top of Mackenzie's head. She was asleep now but Britney didn't want to take her upstairs. She enjoyed holding her like this. Mackenzie was at that age where she didn't like to be held a lot because she was itching to get down and walk everywhere.
"You'd like a little brother or sister, wouldn't you? You could help mommy out. I guess we'll have to wait at least another month for that to happen, though," she whispered.
Justin walked back into the room.
"Okay, I ordered Chinese, that okay?" he asked plopping down next to her.
"Sure."
"I can't believe she fell asleep again so quickly. She must have been really worn out."
"It was a long flight yesterday, maybe that's what did it."
He shrugged and rubbed Mackenzie's back. "Could be. Whatever it is, I'm thankful. She wore me out today."
"Awwww, poor baby," she said, leaning over to kiss his cheek.
"Hey, like you said, I have a long day tomorrow. George wants me on the set by seven am."
"How long do you think you're going to shoot?"
"I don't want to think about it," he moaned, throwing his head back.
She giggled. "You act like you've never done this before. It will be well worth it."
"You're right." He leaned over and rested his head against her shoulder.
"You going to fall asleep on me too?" she asked softly.
"Maybe," he yawned. "Wake me up when the food gets here," he said, while closing his eyes.
She smiled and kissed the top of his head and then reached down to kiss the top of Mackenzie's head.