"She's pretty," Anne leans over and says to Brad.

"Yes she is," he replies.

"You like her a lot, don't you? I mean this is more than you playing in her band."

He pulls his eyes away from Adriana and looks at his mother. "Yes, it's more than that."

She pats her son's hand. "She's a little young…"

"I know. I have to remind myself of that all the time. She's not like most sixteen year olds though," he says shaking his head.

"No, she doesn't seem to be. She's got a good family," she says nodding toward the Timberlake clan.

Ashleigh is sitting on Adriana's lap as their dad tickles her.

"Adriana make him stop," Ashleigh giggles.

"Daddy, you know mama would glare at you right now," I say in the sternest tone I can find at the moment. Which is difficult to do considering I want to bust out laughing.

He looks at me and backs away. "Okay, you've got that glare down pretty good. Pretty scary how you can look so much like your mother sometimes," he says touching my cheek.

"So does she know you like her?" Anne asks.

Brad nods. "I think so. We've gone out a few times."

"As friends or more than friends?"

"Mom…" he glances at his mom, who's giving him one of those looks. "Okay, more than friends. She has to be careful though. They record people are worried about her image so if her age doesn't cool things off between us, Jive will."

She nods.

"We should probably get going," Justin says walking over to Brad and Anne. "Thank you so much for dinner and your hospitality."

They both stand up and Anne takes Justin's outstretched hand and shakes it. "You're more than welcome. I'm glad I could provide a home cooked meal for you."

"Yes, thank you," I say. I'm standing right behind daddy.

She pulls me to the side and gives me a hug. I look at Brad over her shoulder and he smiles.

"You coming with us or coming back with George?" I ask Brad as he walks us out to the car.

"I'll stay a little longer…spend some time with my mom."

The rest of my family gets in the car and Brad and I stand outside the car door.

"I had a nice time today. Thank you for taking me around the city a little…and bringing me to your home."

He leans down and gives me a quick hug. "No problem. See you guys," he waves at my family already in the car.

They wave back and I get in with them.

"That was fun," a tired Ashleigh says.

I put my arm around her and bring her closer to my side.

Daddy's cell phone rings. He looks at the display, smiles and then answers it.

"It's mama," I say without even seeing the display myself.

"Hey baby," daddy answers the phone.

I giggle to myself and lay my cheek on the top of Ashleigh's head.

"Hey…what are you doing?" Britney asked.

"We just had dinner at Brad's mom's house. We're on our way back to the hotel."

"Really? Well that was nice of her to have you all over. Sounds like you had a nice time."

He nods. "We did. How's your dad?"

"He's doing much better. So you're in the car now?"

"Yes."

"With the kids?"

"Yeah. Why, what's up?"

"I just need to tell you something but I'll wait until you're alone," she says softly.

"Okay now you have my curiosity peaked. You can't do that to me."

"I wish I could tell you in person…"

"Brit…"

"How far away from the hotel are you?"

"I don't know…let me ask."

Daddy looks up at Andre and asks how much longer.

"Uh maybe another fifteen minutes, sir."

I give daddy an inquisitive look and he gives me a reassuring smile.

"Fifteen minutes."

"Okay, you can wait that long. Call me when you're alone, okay?"

"Now you have me worried…"

"Don’t be."

"Okay," he says hesitantly. "I love you."

"I love you too. Give the kids a hug and kiss for me."

"I will. Bye."

Daddy hangs up the phone.

"Is everything okay?" I ask.

He turns his head to look at me. "Yep, your Grandpa is doing good."

"Oh, that's good," I let out a sigh. "What about mama? You were acting strange toward the end of the conversation."

"She's good. There's just something she wants to tell me later."

"Are you worried?"

He gave me a weak smile. "She told me not to be."

"Okay, I'm alone. Now spill it."

Britney laughed. "Are you sitting?"

"Brit…"

"Well, mama and I took daddy to the hospital today for another test and I sort of stumbled a little bit…"

"What? And I'm not supposed to worry?"

"Would you let me finish?"

"Sorry," he said quietly.

"So anyway, being at the hospital they took me to a room and daddy's doctor, oddly enough, checked my pulse and asked me a bunch of questions. He told me that maybe I should make an appointment with my OB/Gyn."

Silence.

"And?" Justin asked carefully.

"I went to mama's doctor. His office is in the same hospital and they had a cancellation…my lucky day, huh?"

Justin gulped. "Uh huh." He rubbed his forehead.

"Well…you need to come up with a new nickname."

His heart started to beat a little faster. "Seriously?" he asked tenderly.

"Yep. I'm really not that far along according to the calculations the doctor and I came up with."

He could hear the tears in her voice.

"I probably wouldn't have seen the signs for a few more weeks."

"How far along?"

"Maybe five weeks or so."

"Five weeks," he said figuring out the timing in his mind.

"Miami maybe?" she giggled.

"Ohhh the rain," he said seductively.

"Could be," she teased.

"Did you tell anyone?"

"No, I wanted to tell you first. I'll tell mama and daddy since I'm with them…but…"

"It's still early…"

"Yeah. I want to wait a few weeks after I see my doctor in Orlando."

"So we wait to tell the kids?"

"Yeah, I think so, don't you?"

"It's probably for the best."

"Besides, I want to tell them together. How are they?"

Justin leaned back on his pillow. "They're good. We wore Ashleigh out today I think," he chuckled.

After telling Britney everything they did she said, "I can see why you wore her out. My poor little baby."

"Hey, you're not the one who had to carry her everywhere," he kidded.

"I miss my babies," she whispered.

"Your dad's doing better…come out to the next city. Better yet, fly out tomorrow and meet us here."

"I was thinking about that."

"Then do it. I miss you too."

She groaned. "Okay, I'll see what kind of flights I can find. I'll call Lucille now. I'm sure she'll love me calling this late."

Justin chuckled. "Who cares, she loves the late fees she charges us."

"I'll call you with the info. Don't tell the kids, I want to surprise them."

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in…one of the kids is at the door Brit."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow," she whispers.

"Okay," he whispers back and laughs. "Love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

I open the door. "Hey," I say.

"Hi snowball. Come on in. I thought you'd be nodding off to sleep about now. You've got a busy day tomorrow don't you?"

I nod as I walk toward the bed. "Yeah. Got that radio promotion give away thing to do." I shrug. "It should be fun…Tony explained it to me."

He nods. "Yeah, sometimes those were fun. So, why aren't you resting?"

"Ashleigh feels warm to me. I can call down to the main desk and see if they have a thermometer…"

Daddy puts up his hands. "No, your mother makes me pack things like this. I have one," he says getting up and rummaging through his luggage. "Here. She did seem a little listless."

We start walking toward my bedroom where Ash is sleeping.

Daddy walks over to the bed and sits next to her. He feels her forehead as she stirs. He looks at the thermometer, shakes it then places it in her mouth. Then he looks at his watch.

"Why don't you go sleep on the couch and Cody can sleep with me. If she's sick I don't think you should be around her."

I shrug. "Okay."

I gather the stuff I need to take to the bathroom with me. When I close the door behind me I lean against the door and close my eyes. These are the times when I really need my mama. I hate it when Ashleigh's sick…mama always seems to make it better.

The next morning, there's a knock on the door. I slowly open my eyes and see daddy walking to the door. He's scratching his unruly curls as he opens the door.

"Hey Tony," he mumbles.

"Hi Justin. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

Daddy shakes his head, yawns and then walks back to his bedroom.

Tony looks over at the couch, where I'm laying and walks over to me. He squats down so he's almost eye-level with me.

"Hey, were you a bad girl and got kicked out of your room?"

"Ha ha," I yawn. "Ash is running a temperature and daddy didn't want me to be around her."

"Oh, sorry to hear that." He looks at his watch. "You need to get ready."

"Okay. What do I need to wear? Anything specific?"

"Not really. Just keep in mind you'll be getting your picture taken a lot."

I sit up and stretch. "Got it."

I get out of bed and walk into the other bedroom. Ashleigh's still asleep. She looks so peaceful. I walk over to her and push some hair away from her forehead and press my hand against it. She doesn't feel as warm as she did last night. I lean down and kiss her cheek and fumble through my suitcase looking for something decent to wear.

A few hours later I'm on the parking lot of the venue. There are hundreds of fans gathered around to win tickets to the show and some other prizes. This radio station is putting on a little talent show thing and me, Sasha and they guys from KCB are the judges.

This was actually kind of fun. I enjoy the interaction with the crowd and the contestants they chose, for the most part, were pretty good.

"Well, that was fun," Sasha says in a bored tone as we make our way back to the area where our buses are.

"Actually, I have never done anything like that. I thought it was fun."

She looks at me and gives me a fake smile. "How sweet. So, how's Marcus?"

We both stop walking. "I don't know. I haven't talked to him since his last visit here."

"Oh, I thought you two kept in touch."

"No…not really."

We start walking again.

"Do you still like him?"

I had to ask…she keeps giving me weird looks and asking me about him.

"I'll always like Marcus. I just don't have any stronger feelings for him."

We reach the buses and she grabs my arm so that I stop.

"Just a warning…he'll play you. He'll charm you and then when he doesn't need you on his arm anymore, he'll easily get rid of you and find another…"

"But I'm not on his arm."

She smiles and nods. "Not yet. Have a good show," she says with a wave of her hand and walks toward her bus.

I shake my head and open the door to my bus.

"Mama," I say, running over to her.

She's sitting on the couch with Ashleigh sprawled out next to her and her head on mama's lap.

I sit down on the other side of her and give her a hug. I almost start to cry at the feeling of being in my mother's arms.

"I've missed you so much."

"I missed you too sweetie."

She pulls back and starts examining my face. "You have your daddy's eyes. His always showed when he was tired."

"I'm okay mama."

She nods. "Yeah, you seem to be fine. Beautiful."

"When did you get in?"

"A couple of hours ago."

I look down at Ashleigh, who hasn't even stirred. "Because Ash is sick?"

She shakes her head. "No, I was going to surprise you anyway. Good timing, I guess."

"How is she doing?"

"Her temperature's back to normal but she's still tired. I just gave her more Tylenol."

"Good. I was worried about her."

Mama glances over at the counter. I look up at where she's looking and gasp.

"Oh…again?"

I stand up and read the card on the bouquet of Gerber Daisies and smile.

"I think someone knows where your soft spot is," mama laughs.

*Note: I'm not sure if you can find out if you're pregnant by a test that early on in a pregnancy so if it's not true…oh well, it's fiction ;)