I sit on the side of the pool and watch Ashleigh and Pete splashing each other.

"Baby, Brad's here," mama says as she leans down.

"Oh good," I say as I stand up and walk into the house to find him.

I find him in the kitchen talking to Uncle Lance.

"Well…I hate to see you go but this sounds like an amazing opportunity. I wish we could have provided that for you."

"You already provided me an amazing opportunity. I have learned more than you could know," Brad replies. He smiles at me when he sees me approaching.

"Hey," I say when I get close enough.

"Hi," Brad says.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone. If you ever need anything in the future…look me up," Uncle Lance says shaking Brad's hand.

"I will…thank you."

Uncle Lance kisses my cheek before he turns and walks outside to the patio.

"Is there something I should know about?" I ask.

"What do you mean?"

"Why is Uncle Lance saying bye to you now? I thought you were staying on until the end of the tour?"

I'm trying not to sound panicked.

He takes my hand. "I am…he just isn't sure if he'll be by the tour again."

"Oh…okay," I say, feeling a little more relieved.

"So…" he says swaying my hand back and forth. "Were you surprised?" he asks as he looks around the room at all the people.

"Very," I smile. "I mean I knew a lot of my family was in town, but I didn't realize it was everyone."

He smiles.

"What?" I ask.

"I love how you call them your family…even though they aren't blood related to you."

I shrug. "It feels like they are to me."

We walk outside and join the majority of the group. There are quite a few kids swimming in the pool. Brianna walks by me and puts her arm around my shoulder.

"Hey kiddo…hi Brad," she says.

"Hey Bree. I should be mad at you," I say folding my arms over my chest.

"Why?" she bats her eyes innocently.

"Because I talked to you just a couple of days ago and you acted like you weren't coming back home until Thanksgiving or something."

She laughs. "Well, I'm good at stretching the truth when I need too. Dad said your mom wanted to do a little family reunion thing so I cleared my schedule."

"So everyone knew but me?" I ask, sticking my lower lip out.

"Guess so."

Someone calls her name so she walks away from us.

Ashleigh gets out of the pool and gets a towel from the chair next to Brad and I.

"Ash, did you know about everyone coming over today?" I ask before she gets away.

"Uh huh," she says wiping her face and walking over to mama.

I scrunch up my eyebrows and look at Brad.

"This isn't right."

He laughs.

After getting something to eat and drink we sit down with the "grownups".

"So we had to pile onto Justin and Britney's bus until ours was fixed. I think you guys had been married a few weeks or something?" Uncle Joey asks.

"Ten weeks," daddy says in a monotone voice.

Everyone laughs.

"Yeah so we got to be a part of the newlywed's bliss for a few days. That was fun…let me tell ya. Right Justin?"

"Uh huh…I still remember every detail of that fun," he says twirling his finger around.

Everyone laughs again.

"Oh come on…it wasn't that bad," mama says. She's leaning over the back of daddy with her arms draped over his shoulders.

"You sleep like a baby…I'm the one who woke up every night to his snoring. Kelly, you're a saint putting up with that noise."

"I just kick him…he usually stops."

"So that's how I get so many bruises," Uncle Joey says rubbing his leg.

I look at Brad and smile. "They're such goobs."

Daddy and his "brothers" continue on with their stories.

I look at Brad. "If this is boring you, we can go swim or something."

He keeps his eye on the group and shakes his head. "No, this is interesting."

I shrug. "Okay."

Amanda, Uncle Lance's daughter walks over to us and sits on my lap.

"Oh, thanks for the wet butt…the least you could have done was dry off better," I kid her.

She laughs.

"I saw you on TV," she says to me.

"You did? Where at?"

She shrugs. "It was some video thing. You were good…I liked your video the best."

"Well thank you. Did you have fun at the show last night?"

She smiles and nods. "Yeah I did. That one guy is really cute," she says leaning in to whisper to me.

"Which one?" I whisper back.

"The one that came on after you."

"Oh Michael. Yeah he is pretty cute. He's a nice guy too."

"Does he have a girlfriend?"

"Um, I haven't seen one around. Have you Brad?" I ask, pulling Brad away from the group conversation.

"Have I what?"

"Seen Michael with a girlfriend?" I ask nodding my head toward Amanda.

"Hmmm, no I don't think so. Why, you going to ask him out?" he winks at me.

Amanda's face lights up. "Oh would you do that? You'd be so lucky."

My eyes get bigger. "No…I couldn't do that."

Brad laughs.

"How old are you Amanda?" Brad asks her.

"I'm almost nine."

"Hmmm he might be a little too old for you. But I bet if you were a few years older," he winked at her.

"Do you have a boyfriend Adriana?" she asks me.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Brad staring at me intently.

"I uh…have a lot of boys who are friends."

She looks at Brad.

"Are you one of them?"

He smiles and slowly nods. "Yes, I'm one of them. I hope I'm the most important one of them."

He's still staring at me.

Amanda leans in closer to me again. "He's cute too."

I smile and nod. "Yes he is," I whisper back. "Hi Aunt Joy," I say as I see Amanda's mom walking toward us.

"Hey sweetie. Can I steel my daughter away from you for a minute?"

"Sure," I say giving Amanda's bottom a pat as she stands up and follows her mom.

"She's cute," Brad says.

I laugh. "That's because she thinks you're cute."

He shrugs. "She's got good taste, what can I tell you?"

"Oh God," I say as I roll my eyes.

After more food and more swimming we all end up around a fire some of the guys made out in our backyard and start to sing.

I look around the circle at my wonderful *Nsync family.

Of course there's mama and daddy. Ashleigh is leaning against mama's legs and Cody's sitting on a bench with C.J. (Uncle Chris's son). Then there's Uncle JC and Aunt Kristen. Pete's sitting next to Ashleigh…of course. I smile at Uncle Joey and Aunt Kelly. He's swaying back and forth to the music with Aunt Kelly sitting between his legs on the ground, getting knocked back and forth between his legs…it doesn't look very comfortable. Their daughter's, Brianna and Angelica are sitting on my right side with Amanda sitting on the other side of them. Uncle Chris and Aunt Dani are head banging to Kumbaya, which makes me laugh. Then there's Uncle Lance and Aunt Joy with their son Theo standing behind them.

"I'm going to go," Brad whispers in my ear before they start another song.

"Oh, do you have to?" I ask looking behind me. I'm sitting in between his legs with his arms wrapped around me.

"Yeah, we have to go to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow, remember?"

I yawn. "Oh, that's right."

Uncle Chris starts another song as Brad and I stand up. He walks over to mama and daddy and says something to them. They smile at him. Daddy shakes his hand as mama touches him arm. He waves at whoever's eye he catches and walks back over to me. He takes my hand and I walk him back inside the house to the front door.

"I'm glad you came by today," I say as I lean against the door.

He leans in closer to me and places both hands on the door, on either side of me.

"I'm glad I was invited. I had fun seeing you around your family."

He closes the distance and kisses me. My hands move to his waist and I pull him closer so that he's pressing me against the door with his body. His left hand moves down and finds the small of my back and touches my bare skin. My fingers move to his neck and up into his hair. Our tongues tease each other and then I remember where we're at.

"My family is right outside," I say as I pull slightly away.

We're both trying to catch our breath.

"You're right…I'm sorry," he says leaning his forehead against mine.

"It would just be embarrassing if one of them walked in," I say looking into his eyes.

He laughs. "Your dad would never let me back in this house."

I give him one more quick kiss and we move so I can open the door. He kisses me one last time before he goes outside to find his car.

I walk back outside to rejoin my family. They just finished another song.

"Any requests?" Uncle Chris asks.

"How about 'I Thought She Knew'," I say as I sit back down.

My daddy and my uncle's groan.

"Oh come on…I haven't heard that song in so long," mama says tapping daddy's knee which is right at her thigh. She moved while I was inside because now she's sitting in between his legs, her back resting against his chest. He's got his arms wrapped around her.

"C guys?" Uncle JC asks.

Slowly one by one they harmonize a C note. I get chills just hearing that. I notice mama smiling and leaning back into daddy's arms even more.

Uncle JC starts to snap his finger and daddy starts bobbing his head to that beat.

"One, two, three," Uncle JC says.

I notice mama lean over to her right so she can look up at daddy as he starts his verse.

Uncle JC takes over the lead.

My eyes shift to Uncle Joey.

Now to Uncle Chris.

"I thought she knew my world revolved around her
My love light burned for her alone
But she couldn't see the flame
Only myself to blame
I should have known
I should have known."

I look back over at mama and notice that she is still in the same position, watching daddy as he sings. Now he looks down at her and smiles.

As soon as they finish the rest of us start cheering and applauding. Mama looks up at daddy as he leans down and kisses her. Just seeing the love they share makes me feel mushy inside and I sigh.

"They're so sickeningly sweet," Brianna leans over to me and says.

I wrap my arm around her and nod.

"I know."

"Good news," Tony says coming onto the bus in Ft. Lauderdale the next day.

"What's that?" I ask with a mouth full of cookie.

He sits down across from me on the couch, leans in and rests his forearms against his legs.

"MTV called and they'd like you to perform on the VMA's."

I start to choke so he slides across next to me and starts to pat my back.

I finally swallow. "Really? They want me to perform?"

He laughs. "Yes, why does that surprise you?"

I stare straight ahead. "Because it's just me. Oh my God," I say standing up. "I'm going to have to find some outrageous costume and redo one of my songs."

"Okay," he says standing up next to me. "But we'll figure all that out later. We have to rework your schedule so that you have at least four days in New York before the show. Let me look at my laptop," he says digging it out of his briefcase.

I sit back down and smile. "Wow, the VMA's. I have so many ideas flying through my mind. I need to write these down."

I stand back up and find a pad of paper and a pen. There's a knock on the door.

"Come in," Tony says without looking up from his laptop.

I sit down at the table, my back is to the door. Suddenly I feel someone rubbing my shoulders and a kiss on the back of my neck.

"Brad…I have great news," I say as I turn around and see Marcus.

"I'm not Brad, but I'd love to hear it," he says.

"I am Brad…so scram, Marcus," Brad voice appears from behind Marcus.

I glance over at Tony who's head is still down but his eyes are on me. I swallow and give a faint chuckle.