Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 9
March 2004...
"Mama!" Britney yelled from the nursery in Justin's house.
"What, Brit? You'll wake the whole neighborhood," Lynne said as she entered the room.
"Mackenzie's already awake, so it's not like I'm going to wake her," Britney said. She was holding the baby in one arm and held a washcloth in the other.
"What are you doing?" Lynne asked.
"I'm going to give her a bath and I wanted to make sure I had everything," she said looking at the little bag of stuff she had.
"Sweetie just think of the things you would use and you'll be fine. Besides it's not like you're miles away from this room if you need anything. Isn't Justin going to help?"
"Oh well he's remixing in the studio with JC," she said looking down at Mackenzie, who was starting to fuss a little.
"I bet he'd want to be here....it is her first bath, right?"
"Yeah," Britney sighed. "Okay....I'll be right back."
She went downstairs to the studio. She knocked on the door and within a few seconds JC opened it.
"Hey Brit," he said, smiling at her and then he looked down at Mackenzie. "Hey there sweetie."
"Is it okay to come in for a second?" she asked, trying to peer around his shoulder.
"Sure," he said holding the door wider so she could walk in.
When Justin heard the baby gurgling he turned around and smiled.
"We thought it was Chris," he laughed. "What's up?"
She stood next to him. "I was going to give her her first bath and my mama thought I should probably tell you so you can be there."
He got a disappointed look on his face. "Yeah, I'd like to be there for that. I was going to video tape it."
She bit her lower lip.
"I can't leave right now.....can't it wait until later this afternoon?" he asked, looking at his watch.
"Yeah....I guess so," she said, staring at the baby.
"Go on J.....it shouldn't take that long and we're waiting for Chris anyway," JC said.
Justin glanced at JC and then back at Britney.
"You sure?" he asked him.
"Yes, I'm positive. I learned with Kelly not to make a new mommy upset," he joked.
Justin stared at Britney until she looked up at him.
"It can wait until this evening," she said, turning around and walking out the door.
JC looked at Justin once she was out of the room.
"I know, I'm going," Justin said, getting up from the soundboard and following her.
Britney went back to Mackenzie's room and put her down in her crib.
"We'll wash you later.....daddy's busy right now," Britney said as she smoothed the baby's hair back.
"No he's not," Justin said, standing in the doorway.
Britney turned around. "Justin, you can go down and finish working...."
"As long as it's okay with JC it's okay with me. I want to do this, I just didn't want to be rude to him," he smiled.
"Okay....you want to start the water in the tub? I'll need to measure the temperature before we put her in it," she said, trying to find the thermometer.
Justin chuckled. "Okay."
After a few minutes Justin came back to the room.
"It's running.....are you coming?" he asked.
"Yeah, can you grab that little bag there?" she asked, shifting Mackenzie in her arms.
"Lord, I hate to see how you are the first time you actually take her out of this house," Justin said.
"Shut up," she said, walking past him.
Once they got the baby bathtub filled with water and the temperature was to Britney's liking, Justin went and got the video camera while Britney undressed Mackenzie.
"Ohhhh maybe we shouldn't video tape this....people might think we're doing kiddy porn or something," Justin said as he held the camera up.
"Yeah, right. Who's going to see this besides us?" she asked, removing the diaper.
Mackenzie started to cry as Britney picked her up.
"Oh shhhhhh, it's okay baby...." Britney said, gently placing her in the tub.
Justin found a spot on the shelf above the counter to prop the video camera on so he could help her.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked, talking louder over Mackenzie's growing screams.
"You can pour some of that soap onto the clothe," she said, splashing the warm water onto Mackenzie's stomach.
"It's okay...see that feels nice," she would say to the baby once in awhile to try to calm her down.
Justin did as she asked and he started to wash her, starting at her feet.
He was making faces and blowing raspberries on her stomach as he continued to wash in between her toes. Britney finally quieted her down by putting her finger in the baby's mouth and letting her suck on it.
Lynne walked down the hallway when she heard Mackenzie crying so much and stopped at the door when she noticed what Justin and Britney were doing. She watched them for only a few seconds, smiled and walked back downstairs.
Britney took over the washcloth and Justin stood back and watched. He loved the way Mackenzie watched Britney's every move. She was already hooked on her mama and he couldn't blame her.
"Justin?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Hmmm?"
"You want to wash her hair?"
He looked at the products on the counter and chose the baby shampoo bottle. He poured a tiny bit onto his hand and started to rub it through the little bit of hair that she had. When he started to rinse it he cringed when he noticed it curling a little at the ends.
"Oh no," he said.
"What?" Britney asked, in an alarmed tone.
"Look at what her hair is doing," he said.
She leaned up against his arm as she giggled. "Awww, Justin I think it's cute."
"No, I will not have our daughter cursing me every time she wants straight hair," he said.
Britney leaned over and got the towel as Justin picked her up out of the water. They wrapped her in the towel and Britney sat on the chair in the bathroom and cradled Mackenzie in between her legs as she dried her off.
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked. "No, it wasn't." She leaned down and kissed her.
Justin retrieved the camera and turned it off. He watched Britney a little more, which seemed to be his favorite thing to do lately.
"Thanks for coming to get me," he said.
"It's fun doing those kinds of things together," she said, looking up at him.
She smiled at him and felt her cheeks get flushed. What is going on with her?
"Tomorrow lets go out."
"Out where?" she asked as she held the baby up.
"I don't know. Out to lunch maybe? Shopping...."
She shook her head. "There will be too many people trying to get her picture," she said, starting to get upset.
"Okay....I understand," he said, kneeling down next to her and rubbing her leg. "We won't go out until we have the proper number of guards with us, anyway...."
She nodded as she patted Mackenzie's back. She leaned back a little on the chair.
"It's going to be hard to give her a normal life, isn't it?" she asked in a somber tone.
"What's normal?" he chuckled. "It's okay though because she's going to have so much love that it doesn't matter what's normal and what's us, right?"
With watery eyes, she nodded her head.
"I'm going to go back downstairs. Leave this and I'll clean it up when I'm done," he said. He stood up, giving her a kiss on the cheek on the way and started to walk out the door.
"Justin?" she stopped him.
He turned around in the doorway.
"I'm......I'm glad.....well that you're here. That you're a part of our lives," she shrugged. "That didn't come out the way I wanted it to."
He walked back over to her and squatted down. He leaned in closer to her and gently kissed her on the lips. She was actually sad when he pulled away.
"I'm glad too."
With that he stood up and went back downstairs.
