"Come on in," daddy tells Uncle Joey and Aunt Kelly.

He gives them both a hug and they make their way towards me.

"How does the newest VMA superstar feel?" Uncle Joey asks me as he leans down to kiss my cheek.

"Whatever," I say laughing. "But I feel great. I can't wait."

"It's exciting," Aunt Kelly agrees.

"Who are we missing?" Uncle JC asks looking around.

"Lance and Joy," mama says as she walks up behind me as I sit on the couch and places her hands on my shoulders.

I can tell she's a little tense so I look up at her and place my hand over hers.

The doorbell rings.

"Speak of the devil," daddy says as he goes to open the door.

Sure enough it's Uncle Lance and Aunt Joy. I smile as they walk in and are greeted by the rest of my family. These are the times I love the most.

After a few minutes, Uncle Lance walks over to me and takes my hand.

"Everyone…I have an announcement to make," he says.

Aunt Kristen and Aunt Kelly were in the kitchen so they step into the room. Uncle Lance pulls me up to stand beside him. I see mama and daddy out of the corner of my eye. He stands next to her and wraps an arm around her as she leans into him.

"The reason why we were late is because I was working on an important upcoming tour…a headlining tour…for you, Adriana."

I cover my mouth with my hand. "Really?"

Everything happens all at once. He pulls me into a hug. Daddy leans down and gives mama a kiss as he squeezes her shoulders.

"What finalized it?" Uncle JC asks.

"We found our sponsors," he says looking at me again. "It's Pepsi. But we need to talk about it a little because they want you to endorse their product so I need to make sure you're okay with all of that."

I nod. "Okay."

Eventually I make my way around the room, hugging everyone…laughing and crying with them and then I finally I stand in front of mama and daddy.

"Can you believe it?" I ask them.

Mama reaches out and takes my hands.

"Of course we can, baby. We knew it all along," she says as she pulls me into an embrace.

"How do you feel?" daddy asks as I pull away from mama.

"I don't know. I think I'm in shock. I have too much going on in my head," I say grabbing my head and closing my eyes.

I open them when I feel a pair of warm lips on my forehead. I look up and see daddy smiling at me.

"We know we've told you this before, but we're proud of you, snowball."

"Thanks…you guys are my inspiration, really."

When things start to calm down, everyone mills about talking or eating. I'm sitting down on the couch munching on a plate of appetizers when Ashleigh walks up to me and taps me on the shoulder.

"Aren't you hungry?" I ask her.

"I already ate. Mama wants me to go to bed early."

"Oh okay."

"Why was everyone so happy for you before? I could hear them from my room…" she says as she plays with my hair.

"Well you know how I was on tour this summer?"

She nods.

"With a bunch of different people?"

She keeps nodding.

"Well in a few weeks I'll be going on tour again but this time I'll be the main person they're coming to see. I'll be headlining."

"That's a good thing…"

"Right," I nod.

"But you'll be away from home again," she says sadly.

"Yeah, I will. But until then I'll be at home with you guys while I go to school for a little bit."

"Really? Just like old times?"

I giggle. "Well almost like old times."

She leans in and wraps her arms around my neck so I put one arm around her and squeeze back.

"Come on sweetie. We have a big day tomorrow so you need to get some sleep," mama says as she holds out her hand for Ashleigh to take.

"Okay. Can you come tuck me in too?" she asks looking at me.

I set my plate down and stand up, taking her other hand.

"Sure."

Ashleigh says goodnight to whoever is on the way to her bedroom. As she gets dressed for bed I look over at mama who is rubbing the back of her neck.

"Mama, you look tired."

"I am. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, having everyone over the same day we flew here," she chuckles.

"We can tell everyone to go…or why don't you just go to bed, they'll understand once you tell them the news," I smile.

She looks away and doesn't say anything.

"Mama?"

"Okay, I'm ready," Ashleigh says as she plops down in bed.

Mama sits down next to her and smoothes out her hair.

"My beautiful princess," she says as she leans down and gives her a kiss. "You sure you're okay about me and the baby?"

Ashleigh nods. "Yeah, daddy and Adriana told me what happened. I hope you don't get sick like that again, mama."

"I hope so too," she laughs. "I love you. Sweet dreams."

"I love you too."

Mama stands up so I lean over and give Ash a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Night sissy…I love you too," I say.

She smiles. "I love you. Night night. Don't forget to send daddy in."

"We won't," I laugh before we close the door.

Mama starts to walk back toward the family room but I pull her arm so that we move to the other side of Ashleigh's door.

"Mama…I thought you and daddy were going to tell everyone tonight."

"We changed our minds…" she starts.

"Hey…Ash isn't asleep yet is she?" daddy asks as he approaches us in the hallway.

I shake my head.

"Daddy…why aren't you telling everyone about the baby tonight?"

He glances at mama before looking back at me.

"Sweetie, tonight is your night…"

"No…no. I want you to share this. You have to," I say pleadingly. "I know you want to tell them so badly. This is why we're all here tonight."

Mama's eyes soften.

"Are you sure?" daddy asks. "We don't want to overshadow your good news."

"I'm positive. I can't wait until they find out."

He kisses me on the cheek and opens Ashleigh's door.

"I'll be right out," he says.

Mama takes my hand and we walk back into the room with our family.

Within a few minutes daddy joins us. He grabs a glass of wine and walks over to mama.

"Is everyone in here?" daddy asks as he looks around the room.

"I think Joy is in the kitchen on the phone," Aunt Dani says.

"I'll go get her," Uncle Lance says. "She's probably talking to her mom, who's watching the kids so it might take awhile," he kids.

In a couple of minutes they reappear.

"Okay, now we're all here," Uncle Chris says.

Daddy steps behind mama and places his arms around her, splaying his hands on her stomach.

"Well, we actually invited you all here for a reason…not just to see your ugly mugs…minus you beautiful ladies, of course."

"Gee, thanks," Uncle Joey says.

"And you knew exactly who I was talking about," daddy says.

Everyone laughs.

"Anyway…we have some good news we wanted to share with everyone at the same time so since we're all here this weekend…"

"Just tell us already," Uncle Chris says.

"Okay," he says before he pauses. "We're going to add another Timberlake to the family in April."

I smile as the room erupts with more laughter and joy and tears. Everyone starts hugging again. Someone pulls me into their embrace so I wrap my arms around them and realize it's Aunt Dani.

"Another baby for you to be a big sister to, huh?" she asks.

I smile and nod. "I can't wait."

She taps my nose and moves on to the next person to hug.

Aunt Kristen sits down beside me and Uncle JC walks over to us. "You knew about this, didn't you?" he asks her.

She shrugs and smiles. "Maybe…maybe not. It's a pregnant woman's thing…we just know these things," she winks at him.

He smiles and kisses her.

"So what nickname does this baby get?" Uncle Joey asks.

We all laugh as daddy scratches his chin. "I haven't decided yet. I don't think monsoon is an appropriate nickname."

"Oh God," I say as I bury my face in my hands while everyone around me laughs.

"Nice," I hear mama say.

"J, don't brag about your technique," Uncle Joey says.

I cover my ears. "Hey, there's a child here," I say loudly.

Aunt Kristen rubs my back as she laughs with the rest of the family.

"Where?" Uncle JC asks as he squeezes my shoulder. "I just see a beautiful young lady," he winks at me.

I smile at him and feel myself blushing slightly. "That's okay…I am going to bed anyway. You guys can talk about "technique" all you want. I have to get my beauty sleep for tomorrow."

I give each and every person in the room a hug and kiss.

"That was fun," I say to mama as I reach her.

"Did we embarrass you?" she asks running her hand along my cheek.

I shake my head and give her a hug. "No. I'm used to you guys."

She gives me a kiss and looks into my eyes. "Sleep tight. If you can't sleep, come get me okay? I don't want you to have bags under your eyes tomorrow."

I smile and nod. "I will. But I'll be fine."

"Snowball…" daddy says as he embraces me. "I love you. Go get your mom if you can't sleep," he kids.

Mama slaps his arm as we laugh.

"You're going to be perfect tomorrow…"

"God…now you're going to make me nervous," I say biting my lower lip.

"No, just be yourself…you are our perfection," he says as he leans down to kiss me on the forehead.

I bite back the tears.

"Oh daddy…"

"Good night," mama says. I can tell she's about to cry too.

I make my way to my bedroom and I think about what my parents have just told me. It's what I think about as I fall fast asleep.

"So, how did the other two take the news?" Kristen asks Britney as they pick up the mess left behind in the family room.

Britney stands up as she holds a stack of cups to her chest. "I told Ashleigh. Of course she was thrilled. It's like she's going to have a new baby doll to play with. She got scared today though…"

"Why?"

"Well, I think after the flight and stuff, my stomach wasn't too thrilled with it and I got sick…well…"

"Ohhh."

"Yeah. She was scared that I was loosing the baby. This all happened just as Adriana gets home. It was a mess for a minute. It upset me that Ashleigh was so upset…"

"I'm sure."

"But I have wonderful children who got the situation under control before my wonderful husband finished talking to her."

"That's sweet. How about Cody?"

"Well Justin said he acted all cool…and he didn't really say anything to me about it. Then the other day," she smiles as her eyes get watery, "he told me he thought it was cool. But he wants a brother."

They both laugh.

"Yeah, Pete has already ordered me to have a boy so he can play soccer with him."

"So J…this was unexpected," JC says to Justin as they clean up the kitchen.

Justin shrugs as he loads the dishwasher. "Yeah…kinda."

JC stops what he's doing and looks at Justin. "And here I thought you told me everything." He places his hand over his heart. "I'm hurt."

Justin laughs. "I don't tell you everything man. We were a little skeptical about trying." He stops what he's doing and looks up. "Mainly because of *Nsync. We weren't sure about a baby and touring and stuff...we've done that before but we were younger then."

JC nods. "Yeah."

"But there were too many babies around. Then you and Kristen announced your pregnancy and…well, it was like, the group will have to take time off for that, so why not add another one."

Both men laugh.

"I'm glad we helped you make the final decision," JC says.

Justin closes the dishwasher and picks up a towel.

"Well, Brit has always wanted four kids. Damn man…we just wanted another one. I won't make any excuses."

JC smiles at his friend. "And it's fun trying."

"That too."

Their wives walk in the room with overfilled trash bags.

"Sweetie, you really need to go to bed. We'll finish cleaning up," Justin says as he takes the trash bag from Britney.

"I'm fine."

Justin glares at her.

"Okay," she says.

Kristen is smiling at the two of them.

"What are you smiling about? The same goes for you missy," JC says to her.

"Yeah, you two need to get going. You shouldn't have stayed to help anyway. You were our guests tonight," Britney says.

"We're family," Kristen says, placing her hand over Britney's.

The two women hug and JC and Justin roll their eyes at each other.

"Oh God…anytime these two are together, it's going to be a mush-fest," Justin says.

"Shut up," Britney says wiping the tears from her eyes.

Kristen puts her hands on her hips and sticks her tongue out at her husband.

"On that note, I think we will leave. We'll see you at Radio City tomorrow," JC says.

"I can't wait," Britney says as she and Justin follow them to the door.

"Are you nervous?" Kristen asks Britney.

Britney bites her lip and nods. "Yes…I'm so nervous for her, but she's going to be brilliant, so there's really no need to be nervous."

"Right," Justin says kissing the back of Britney's head. "She's going to knock their socks off sort of like another female pop star did in 2000."

Britney's eyes get wide. "Oh God, I hope she doesn't wear an outfit that everyone will talk about for years and years down the road."

"You haven't seen it?" Kristen asks.

Britney shakes her head. "No, I'm trying to be surprised."

"She'll be fine…Tony knows I'll kill him if she's not wearing something appropriate."

"My outfit wasn't appropriate?" Britney asks turning to look at him.

"No, that's not what I meant…"

"We'll see you guys tomorrow," JC says as he and Kristen close the door behind them.

They look at each other and laugh.