One week later…

"You're awfully quiet," Justin said to his youngest daughter as they walked to the backlot at Universal Studios. 

"Will anyone get mad that we're here?" Ashleigh asked, looking up at her dad.

They continued to walk, hand in hand.

He chuckled. "No, no one will get mad. Cody, catch up with us," Justin said looking behind him.

Cody picked up the pace a bit.

"Stage eleven, here it is," he said opening up the door and letting Ashleigh and Cody go in first.

The music was loud and Ashleigh stayed very close to Justin's leg. He took her hand again and they walked toward the main area.

They found some chairs that were set-up over to the side, where they could see everything that was going on. Justin sat down and Ashleigh hopped up on his lap. Cody stood next to them.

"Okay, so I thank Marcus for having me on his tour and tell the audience they've been great," I laugh.

I'm all hooked up. I've got the mic/headset pack on and this is my second day of full dress rehearsal.

"She looks pretty," Ashleigh giggles to her father. He smiles and nods.

"This might be a good time to get the crowd to scream," mama said. She was standing so she could watch the whole production from dead center.

I nod. "That sounds good."

I start walking around in circles, trying to keep my muscles loose.

The band starts the slow introduction to the next song and I say, "Come on girls…you know you're "Better Off"."

And I start my routine to this song. I sing this one with attitude.

"Having fun?" Tony asked as he approached Justin and the kids.

Ashleigh nods. Justin holds out his hand to shake Tony's. He sits down in the vacant chair next to them.

"How's it going?" Justin asks, nodding his head toward Adriana.

Tony smiles and nods. "Going really really well. She's a natural."

Justin smiles and says, "Doesn't surprise me."

Britney sees her family over on the side and motions for Ashleigh to come over.

"Go on," Justin says, nudging her.

She jumps down and runs over to her mama. Britney squats down. "How long have you guys been here?" She has to speak loudly over the music.

"We just got here…it's loud," Ashleigh says, covering her ears.

Britney laughs and stands up and turns Ashleigh so she's standing right in front of her. She puts her hands on her shoulders as they both watch Adriana perform the song.

"Just found out that Marcus Tyler is very intrigued about who Ana's parents are," Tony says.

"Where did he say this?"

"On MTV. He was on one of those news programs they have…someone mentioned Ana and he said he's heard her record and liked it…blah blah blah…and they said something about you and Brit being her parents and his face changed."

"Good change or bad change?"

Even though Justin was watching Adriana he was completely listening to Tony.

"Good change, from what I've heard. Keep in mind I haven't seen this myself. Anyway, he starts asking questions about it…strange," he says shaking is head.

"What do you think that means?"

"We just need to keep our eyes peeled while on tour."

The music stops and Justin stands up and applauds and cheers.

I hear my daddy and I see Ashleigh with mama but I stay in character. The band starts a slow riff and I walk over to where they are standing, lowing my headset mic to my shoulders and grab the hand held mic. Before I talk, I take a drink of water and then say softly, "Thank you. I'm going to slow things down a little bit and sing a song that someone very special to me wrote…it's called, "It's Me"."

As I am talking I walk over to a stool that has been placed in the middle of the "stage". The band starts to play and I sing. I usually end up closing my eyes while I sing this song…no one has told me not to so I continue to do it. I'm not sure if it's the right etiquette on stage or not but it's the way I feel when I sing this song.

When I sing the last note, I open my eyes and I see mama wipe away a tear from the corner of her eye. I smile at her. Ashleigh applauds like crazy, which almost makes me chuckle. By now, daddy has moved over and is standing next to them. He blows me a kiss and winks at me. I act like I'm grabbing that kiss and then the music starts back up into an almost heavy rock sound and I finish my set with "Wanted".

I hit the last mark and I pump my fist into the air. "Yeah!"

"Thanks for letting me join you…coming up next, Marcus Tyler," I say as I take a bow and act like I'm leaving the stage as the band plays on.

I grab a towel that's on the side of the stage and start to dab my face with it. I hear the reaction from the few people who are out there watching me so I walk back around and stand in the middle of the stage and bow again.

"Thank you…no encore, sorry," I joke.

People start milling about and I turn to the band and clap my hands. "You guys sounded awesome…thanks."

George gives me a quick salute and Brad just smiles an adorable smile at me.

"What did you think?" I ask as mama, daddy and Ashleigh walk up to me.

"That was the best one yet," mama said. She still had her hands on Ashleigh's shoulders.

"There are no words to describe how I feel right now," daddy says leaning down and kissing my cheek.

I squat down so I'm eye level with Ash…."Well, what about you?"

"That was so…so…it was really good," she said.

"You think so?"

She nods.

"Don't think I need to change anything?"

"Well…"

I glance up at mama with an amused look on my face.

"Well what?"

"I thought it was going to be longer," she says so softly I can't hear her.

"What?" I ask leaning in toward her.

"I thought it was going to be longer…the list of songs you showed me before had more on it," she said a little louder.

"Oh well it is…you just came in at the end of it, I guess. We're going to do another run through after lunch, I think…you'll have to stick around, okay?" I ask as I tap her nose.

She smiles and nods. "Can we daddy?"

"Stay? Sure."

Cody walks over to us. "I'm hungry."

"We're going to eat now…the food's over there," I say pointing toward the back of the soundstage.

He walks over and we all look at each other. I shrug. "I think he liked it."

Mama and daddy bust out laughing. Mama leans in and whispers to me, "I think you're right."

I go back over to the side and change out of my costume and pull on some sweats. When I come back out, everyone is eating so I walk over and get in the buffet line. Brad comes up behind me.

"When is your next day off?" he asks me.

I turn my head and smile at him. "What are those?"

He laughs. "Gotcha. Okay, when do you have about four hours free…all in a row now…"

"Hmmm, I'm not sure. I'll have to check with Tony. Can I ask why?"

I pick up a plate and start walking down the line, checking out the food.

"Well I had an idea," he shrugs and picks up a plate.

"I could take that in many different ways…"

"I thought we could go hang out somewhere…before things get really crazy."

I glance over my shoulder at him and then look back at the pasta in front of me. "Define hang out."

He groaned. "A date, okay?" he asked almost in a hushed tone…but loud enough so I could hear it. And I heard it loud and clear. My heart started to beat a little faster.

"I don't know if my daddy will let me go on a date yet."

He can't see my face but I'm smiling.

"You're kidding…"

I shrug. "Maybe. I've never been on one before…I think he always had this rule…something about being twenty-five…" I shake my head and scoop up the pasta onto my plate.

"Please tell me you're joking. Look at me," he says, gently touching my shoulder and nudging me to turn around.

When I turn around I stare into his gray eyes for a second before I burst into laughter. "Well I'm kidding about some of it…but I really would have to let them know. Even though I'll be on the road, on tour and all that stuff, to them I'm still their sixteen year old daughter."

He smiles and nods. "I see. Do I need to ask his permission first?"

My eyes get big. "Oh no…don't do that. I'll try it my way first and see if it works."

"So is that a yes?"

I look down at my plate and then back up at him and smile. "Yes."

"So Code…what did you think?" Justin asks. He, Cody and Ashleigh are driving home after watching the run through of the show again.

"I thought she did good. She's good at that," he mumbled.

"At what?" His intent was to get Cody talking more.

"At singing and dancing."

"What song did you like best?" Ashleigh asked, turning around to look at him.

He gave her a bored look. "I guess I liked "Mind Games" best."

"Ohhh I liked that one a lot," she said enthusiastically.

"What was your favorite Ash?" Justin asked.

She turned back around. "I liked "Better Off" a lot. Oh, but she's so pretty when she sings "It's Me". I liked her outfit at the end…it looked good when she sang "Wanted"."

Justin started to chuckle. "I don't think you can pick a favorite."

"I like them all," she said smiling.

"Me too," he said, patting her leg.

"The band was good," Cody said.

Justin nodded. "Yes, they are good. Do you remember George at all, Cody?"

"He looked familiar to me."

"You were little when he toured with me. I trust him…that's why I wanted him for your sister's band."

"That one guy looks young."

"Brad? Yeah, he's eighteen. That's George's nephew. He does a good job though."

"I saw him and Adriana sitting with each other at lunch," Ashleigh said.

"I wondered where she was," Justin said.

"Yeah, they were making googly eyes at each other," Cody chimed in.

"Googly eyes, huh?"

"Yep. I think I even saw them kiss."

Justin's eyes got big. "You what?"

Cody shrugged. "Maybe they didn't, I don't know. It looked like it to me."

Ashleigh gasped. "Adriana kissed a boy?"

"Adriana didn't kiss anyone," Justin said in an annoyed tone. "Your brother is just imaging things."

"Don't think so…"

"Mama, can I ask you something?" I ask as mama and I drive home a couple hours later, from rehearsals.

"Of course," she says, turning down the radio.

"Would you let me go on a date?"

Britney felt her heart up in her throat. "A date?"

"Yeah, you know…a guy and a girl go out."

"And who would this date be with?"

I roll my eyes. "Mama are you that blind?"

She slowly smiles. "No, I'm not that blind. Did he ask you out on a date…or do you just expect him to?" She turns the blinker on and turns down our street.

"He asked me," I say, holding my breath.

"Really?" she asks in an intrigued tone.

"Uh huh," I nod.

"What would you do on this date?"

I start to bite my nails. "I don't know exactly. He wouldn't say…he said we'd hang out for a few hours. Whatever that meant."

"Hang out," she repeated. "Well, I wouldn't mind. As long as there was something to do like dinner and a movie or something. I don't want you two just cruising around."

"Cruising? Is that like going somewhere to make out or something?"

Mama laughed. "No, I mean just driving around without any real plans."

"Okay."

I bite my nails a little bit more.

"What do you think daddy will say?"

"Hmmm, now that's a tough one. Do you want me to prepare him first?" she asks and glances quickly at me.

"If you think that's better. I mean, he won't say no, will he?"

"No, he won't say no…I just want to ease him into this. He's not used to his babies growing up," she says, patting my hand that is lying on my leg.

"Okay."

We pull into the garage and find Cody sitting on the steps that lead into the kitchen with his head bent over his knees and he's rocking himself back and forth.

Mama sees him first and runs over to him…putting her hand on his back.

"Cody, honey what is it?"