Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 75
April 2007.......
"So how is your son's recovery coming along?" the reporter asked Justin.
They were sitting in a restaurant in Beverly Hills both nursing a cup of coffee.
"Actually, it's coming along really well, thanks for asking," Justin replied before taking a sip of coffee.
Justin's album was about to be released in a month and this was the time for the heavy hitting promotions. Today's interview was for Rolling Stone.
"Normally you don't talk about your personal life much. You usually say that your kids and wife are doing well and leave it at that but now you're sharing your experience with your son with everyone. What changed your mind?" Ted, the reporter asked.
"Well.....my life doesn't really have normal circumstances, does it?" Justin chuckled.
When the reporter gave him a strange look he continued. "Well I guess it never did, but Britney and I decided we wanted to use this opportunity to get the word out there about spinal injuries. Of course we didn't know anything about this until Chase went through what he went through. So now we know as much as we can know about it and I think it's a good thing to make people aware of the seriousness of it, but also that there are procedures that can be done to give people hope."
"You've been very generous to different organizations revolving around this....."
Justin nodded. "We do what we can. Our focus with our charities used to be solely on children's charities and music and the arts, now some of that focus is going toward more research on spinal and neurological injuries."
"Your son is one-year old now?" Ted asked.
Justin nodded. "Just turned one."
"Is he able to walk yet?"
Justin looked down at the cup of coffee in his hand. "We take things one day at a time and encourage him every step of the way. He goes through physical therapy three times a week with a wonderful PT, her name is Nicole......but no, he's not walking yet. But we're getting there," Justin said, lifting his head and smiling.
Ted couldn't help but smile back.
"I admire your determination....."
"This is my son we're talking about. There's nothing more important to me than my family."
"Not even your music?" Ted asked, raising his eyebrows.
Justin shook his head and glanced out the window at the photographer who was ready to snap his picture. "Not even my music."
~*~
"Your photo shoot for Rolling Stone turned out good," Britney said, letting the packet of proofs fall on the table.
"Yeah, they're okay," Justin replied.
"Have you decided on doing that interview with Rosie for the TV special yet?" she asked him.
"I want you to decide," he said, not looking up at her but keeping his eye on Chase, who he was working on his exercises with.
"Justin......that's not fair," she said, putting her hands on her hips.
He glanced up at her. "I'm the one doing the promotion right now, not you but this interview will involve the whole family. We need to decide if we want to do that or not. I want to do it if it only benefits us as a family in any way," he said before looking back down at Chase.
"I don't see how it could benefit us," she said, rubbing her forehead. "But I don't think at this point, it would hurt us.....that was always our concern before."
Justin nodded as he stared at Chase's smile. No matter what they put this little boy through, he always smiled when someone smiled at him. Justin reached down and lifted him up to his face so he could give him a kiss on the cheek, before putting him back down on the floor on his back.
"It's Rosie....."
Justin glanced back up at her again. "Yeah.......and that means....."
"It's Rosie," she said holding her arms out in front of her. "She won't do anything we don't want her to do. She's got kids, she understands....."
Justin nodded. "Yep."
"And we've both known her for a really long time.....so I think we should do it. Maybe it will alleviate some of these stupid rumors out there," she said, turning back around to look out the window.
"Brit.......watch," Justin said, sitting back away from Chase a little. "Come on," he said, holding his arms out to him.
Britney turned around and watched with wide eyes.
Chase slowly rolled over because he had been on his back and pulled himself closer to Justin by using his arms and scooting his legs. When he reached Justin he giggled.
"Yay," Britney said as she clapped and sat down next to them on the floor.
"What mommy?" Mackenzie asked as she came around the chair where she had been playing.
"Chase just crawled over to daddy......." she said, pulling Mackenzie to sit on her lap.
"Yayyyy," Mackenzie said, clapping her hands like her mommy did.
Britney chuckled, leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
"Will he walk now?" Mackenzie asked.
"He will soon.....as long as we keep working with him. Remember that exercise I showed you the other day that you can help me with?" Justin asked.
Mackenzie nodded and crawled over to Chase and Justin.
"Hold still, Chase," Mackenzie said as she tried to hold his legs so she could show Justin how she remembered the exercise.
Britney bit her lip while she smiled, watching Mackenzie try to help Chase out.
"That's good," Justin said. "Just like that."
Mackenzie smiled and looked up at Britney.
"Look mommy, I hep wif Chase!"
"Yes, so I see," she said.
The phone rang so Britney stood up and got it.
"Hello," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. She turned her back to her family. "How did you get our number?" she asked softly. "Please don't call back."
She hung up the phone and set it down as she stared at it for a second before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Brit?" Justin asked.
She turned around and smiled. "Wrong number."
He cocked and eyebrow.
"Ow," Mackenzie said.
"What happened?" Justin asked, diverting his attention from Britney to Mackenzie, who was rubbing her chin.
"Chase kicked me," she said, pushing his leg away. "Bad Chase," she said, pointing her finger at him.
"Mackenz...." Justin started to reprimand her just as Britney came over and interrupted him.
"Come on, let's go upstairs," Britney said, grabbing Mackenzie's arm and yanking her to stand up.
"It huwts, mommy," she said, still rubbing her chin.
Britney scooped her up and kissed her chin. "See, it's all better now."
"Britney?" Justin asked, very confused by what was happening.
Britney took Mackenzie upstairs without explanation.
After awhile Chase fell asleep so Justin took him up to bed. He walked down the hall to his and Britney's room and stood in the doorway, watching Britney. She was sitting on their bed next to a sleeping Mackenzie. She had a book on her lap and was stroking Mackenzie's hair as she stared off into space. She looked up when she heard Justin shift a little in the doorway.
"Sorry, didn't mean to disturb you," he smiled at her.
She shook her head. "You're not. Come here." She held out her hand.
He walked over to her and sat down next to her. He leaned in and gave her a kiss.
"Why did you leave so quickly earlier? I was getting ready to explain to her that it wasn't Chase's fault that he kicked her."
"She's got a little bump here," Britney said, looking down right below Mackenzie's lower lip.
"Brit," he said, touching her arm. "Was it that phone call?"
"It was a reporter. How did they get our number?" she asked, rubbing her arm. "We can't even be free in our own home."
"We'll just change our number. It's happened before and it will happen again...."
"But it's never happened since we've had both children. I wonder if we should have a guard on duty here on the property......"
"If that's what you want....."
"No, I don't want it, but I think I'd feel better. I jump at every little noise outside."
"I've noticed....."
"Is Chase asleep?"
Justin nodded. "Let me put her to bed," he said.
He went on the other side of the bed and lifted Mackenzie up into his arms and carried her to her bedroom. When he returned to the room he heard running water coming from the bathroom and since the door was partially opened he decided it was safe to join her.
She was washing her face and smiled up at him in the mirror as he stood behind her.
"It looks like I only might have a tiny scar here," she said turning around and pointing to a spot next to her eye.
Justin removed her finger and studied it. "How can you even see that?" he chuckled before kissing the spot.
She shrugged. "I know my face....."
"Well, I like to think I know your face pretty well too," he said, kissing another spot on her face.
"Hold on, I'm not done rinsing," she said as she turned back around and finished wiping off her face.
He stood behind her and studied her backside. She giggled when she noticed what he was doing.
"You can still make me feel like a teenager....."
"You have the body of a teenager......it makes me hot," he whispered into her ear as he leaned over her.
He reached around her and cupped her breasts.
"I've got the body of a woman who has had two children," she said, standing up straight and watching what he was doing to her in the mirror.
He shook his head and started to nibble on her neck. "Nope....I'd never guess that you've had two very beautiful children by looking at you." He was looking at her figure in the mirror as his hands roamed over her body.
She arched her back when he reached a sensitive spot.
"I've got a few stretch marks," she moaned as his fingers continued their exploration.
"I don't see stretch marks....."
He unbuttoned her jeans and then unzipped them, letting them fall to her feet. She lifted her top off over her head.
"No fair.....you've still got clothes on," she giggled.
Before she even had a moment to turn around he had his clothes off. He lifted her up and carried her into the bedroom and laid her down on the bed.
"I love you," she sighed as her head hit the pillow.
"Show me," he said, gazing into her eyes.
She pulled his head down to hers and started to do exactly that.