After happily shopping for rings we went to Justin's house. "I don't understand why we need witnesses. Isn't the justice of the peace enough?" he said as we pulled into the driveway. "Why are you freaking out so much? They're your friends, don't you want them to be at your wedding?" "They're not going to understand." "But they're your friends." "I know." I kissed him. "I love you. If they won't go we'll figure something out. Don't worry, we're getting married." We got out of the car and went inside. Luckily they were all there. "Hey guys! You have the day off?" Chris asked me. "Uh, not exactly. More like I just didn't go in." He laughed. "Well there you go." "So why are you all here? Not to be rude or anything." Justin said. "Actually, we need to ask you all a big huge favor." JC said. "What?" "Umm.... Well... Uh-" "JC, I'll ask. We need you guys to come with us to city hall to be our witnesses. We're getting married." The looks on their faces made me want to burst out laughing. Their eyes were wide and their mouths were hanging open. After a long moment of silence Justin spoke up. "What?" "We're getting married." I said. Chris threw his hands into the air and began shaking his head. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up. Yesterday you two were just friends and you're getting married. What in the hell happened?" "Uh, well..." I smiled just thinking about what had happened last night. "Well, what happened?" "We declared our love for each other." JC said. "How?" Joey asked devilishly. "Knock it off Joey. I really need you all to do this for us. Please." JC pleaded. Justin became obviously uncomfortable and left the room. "Uh, I'll be right back." JC said getting up and following him.
I turned to the guys who remained. "What's that all about?" "Justin's just.... a little upset. You know, seeing as how his love life isn't all that great." Chris said. I heard a chair fall to the floor in the kitchen and Justin beginning shout. "You're a damn hypocrite! You told me Britney was stupid for getting married so soon! But's she'd been with him for a few months. What the hell are you doing?!" "Don't compare me to her." "I'm not! I'm simply reminding you of something you once said to me!" "I'm getting married today whether you like it or not! I'd love it if you were there but it won't bother me too much if you're not." JC walked back into the living room and smiled. "So, are you guys going to go?"
We drove to city hall with a pouty Justin in the car behind us. "He's going to screw this whole thing up, I know he is." JC said. "I think you're overreacting." "I think he's overreacting." I wrapped my hand around his and smiled. "We'll be fine." He smiled. "I love you." The car finally came to a stop at city hall and we excitedly got out. Chris bounced up to us with a smile across his face. "I am so excited for you all!" "I'm not." Justin mumbled while walking up to us. "I didn't make you come. Stop complaining." JC said. "Let's go inside before we kill each other." Lance said leading us all inside.
From the moment we stepped inside a smile never left my face. All throughout the ceremony JC nervously clutched my hand. I've never seen him the way before. I looked into his eyes and saw happiness, love, and fear. I must look the same. After what seemed like an eternity we kissed, got some papers, and left. "Congratulations you two! I knew you'd be the first of us to get married." Chris said. JC put his arm around me and kissed my cheek. "So, where do you want to go for our honeymoon?" I smiled. "I don't know." "What do you mean you don't know? Shouldn't you have been thinking about this for your whole life?" I blushed and looked down. "Well, I kinda always wanted to go to Hawaii." "You've never been?" "No." "Well damn, that's where we're going." Lance patted our backs. "Have fun guys." "Yeah, have fun being happy for the rest of your lives." Justin said getting into his car. "Ignore him. He's just an ass!" Chris said loud enough for him to hear. He held up his middle finger. "Anyway, you guys should go. Get started on your fun." Chris said. "Thanks. Bye."
We got onto the plane and sat down in first class. "I love you." JC whispered kissing my cheek. "I love you." I whispered back. He took my hand and kissed it. "So, what are we going to do when we get there?" he asked. "The same thing we did last night. Only so much better because now I'm Mrs. Chasez." He smiled. "How true." The intercom came on with instructions of what to do when taking off, as well as what to do in the case of a crash. JC playfully kissed my ear the whole time. I giggled. "Stop. You should be listening to this." "I've heard it enough." We took off and after a few stops we were in Hawaii.
"You don't have any available rooms? None at all?" JC asked the desk clerk. "No, I'm sorry. Not until tomorrow." He sighed and turned to me. "What now?" "There's got to be an available room somewhere on this island." We left the hotel and walked back to our cab. "Where to?" "I don't know. A hotel with vacancy would be nice." JC said. I looked at him and saw he was stressed. "Don't worry." I said kissing him. "If we have to sleep on the beach that's what we'll do." He smiled. "We wouldn't get a lot of privacy there." "Who cares?" He kissed me back. "You're great." "I know."
Finally we found an available hotel room. We walked down the halls of the island hotel. Everything about the place looked native and natural. The walls had a bamboo covering on them and there were tropical flowers everywhere. I'm loving my honeymoon already. We got to our door and he sat the bags down. He opened the door and didn't go in. "What are you waiting for?" I asked. He turned to me and picked me up. "I have to carry you across the threshold." I laughed and we entered the room. He placed me gently on the bed and kissed me. "I'll be right back." He ran into the hallway, picked up the suitcases, and came back in. He closed the door and came back to me. "Ok. Now I can make love to Mrs. Chasez."
I laid on the bed with my back on JC's chest. It was the next morning and I've never been this happy in my life. I've never been this in love. He started playing with my hand. "So, how many kids are we going to have?" he asked. "I don't know. Two, three." "I think we should have six." "Tough shit. There's no way in hell I'm squeezing out six kids." He laughed. "Ok ok. Three sounds good." "So.... When am I going to meet your parents?" "Never." "Oh come on. They can't be that bad." "They're not, but I'm not too sure they'd be up for this spur of the moment wedding thing." I smiled and kissed his hand. "I want to meet them though. Maybe they'd be the parents I don't have." "Kara, I'm so sorry." "Don't be. It's not your fault my dad's a bastard and my mom's dead." "Well, you'll be a part of my family. I'm sure they'll love you as much as I do."
I lay on the beach sunning myself while JC swam in the water. I turned onto my stomach and began to fall asleep. "Kare bear, you're not falling asleep are you?" I opened my eyes and saw JC sitting next to me. "Yes." "That's no fun. You should go into the water with me. It feels great." "I'm tired." He ran his finger down my back and I shivered. "That tickles." I said giggling. He laid down next to me. "I love you. Thank you for marrying me." I smiled. "Well, you're welcome. Thank you for being the best man I've ever met." He kissed me. "How much longer are we going to be out here?" "Why?" I asked. "I want to get back to the room."
That night JC finally decided to call his family and tell them the news. I sat on the bed while he talked on the phone. I looked down at my finger and the ring on it. It's beautiful. A gold band with a medium sized diamond on it. I didn't want anything bigger. It would be too extravagant. I looked at JC and saw he looked frustrated. "Mom, it's not that big of a deal, really... No I didn't get her pregnant...... Because I love her.... Yes, I do..... Yes.... I don't know. We're in Hawaii now. Soon I guess.... No, I don't know how soon.... Yes, she wants to meet you.... You'll love her. I do.... She makes me happy. Not a lot of people can do that... You're incredibly oblivious to everything then... Sorry, I didn't mean it that way... No.... Ok, bye." He hung up the phone and laid down on the bed with his head in my lap. "She doesn't understand anything." I ran my fingers through his hair. "I think she understands more than you think." "What's that mean?" "She's your mother. They understand everything, even though sometimes they don't want to." "I guess so."
Four days later we went back home. We stood in front of his house looking back at mine. "Uh, which house are we going to move into?" he asked. "I don't know. Which one do you want to?" "I don't know." "We're not getting anywhere with this conversation. We need to figure this out." "I really don't know though. I guess you're house. I'm getting tired of mine and you just moved in." "That's true. Are you sure that's what you want to do?" "Yeah. It has more rooms anyway. More for the little kids we're going to have." I smiled. "Ok then. Let's start packing." "I'll call the realtor."
"When are you going to tell your family about us?" JC asked as we packed up the things in his room. "I don't know. I haven't talked to them in a few months. It'd be kind of stupid to call now." "I'm sure they'd love to hear from you." "I'm sure they would, but I don't want to talk to them. I've tried to block out my childhood. Talking to them would bring it all back." "Was it that bad?" "No, it was ok, but that's it. I'd have to think about my mom, and I don't want to do that." "Um, if it's not too painful, could you tell me about what happened with your dad?"
* "Damnit Michael! I'm sick and tired of your shit! I know you've been cheating on me! Don't deny it!" my mom yelled at my dad. "Yes, I've been cheating on you! You just can't satisfy me, you never have!" "I want you out of this house!" I heard him slap her and I pulled the covers over my head. It's like this every night. I don't like daddy hitting mommy. Someone make them stop. I quietly got out of my bed and snuck to Todd's room. I opened the door and he looked over at me. "Come on." he said lifting the covers up. I got under them and closed my eyes. A seven year old shouldn't have to put up with this. A few moments later the door opened and a five year old Natasha walked in. She was sobbing and tears flowed down her face. "Come on honey." Todd said. She got onto the bed with us. "Don't cry. Things will be ok." Todd said wrapping his arms around us. Things will be ok.
The next morning my mom came into Todd's room and sat down on the floor next to us. We all looked at her. She had a black eye and she was crying. "Come here." We all got off the bed and sat down next to her. She hugged us and began rocking back and forth. "I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me. I love you all more than anything in the world. I'm so sorry you have to live with this. I'm so sorry." "I love you mom." Todd said. She started crying harder. "I love you!" After a few moments Natasha spoke. "Is daddy gone?" "Yes sweety, he's gone. He's never going to bother us again. You don't have to worry. I won't let him touch you." *
JC wrapped his arms around me as silent tears rolled down my cheeks. "I hate it when you cry. Please don't cry." "I miss her so much. I've forgotten how much she put up with to keep us safe." He ran his fingers through my hair while I continued to cry. I love him so much. I don't know what I'd do if he weren't here. After a few minutes I calmed down and we sat on his bed holding each other. "I love you." I said. "I love you too." I sighed and wiped my eyes. "Well, let's finish packing."
The next day Chris and Lance came over to visit. "How are the happily married couple?" Chris asked. "Good. We spent all last night packing up my house." JC said. "So you're moving in here?" Lance asked. "Yeah." I left the room and walked upstairs. I laid down on my bed and sighed. I do need to tell them, but I don't want to do it over the phone. I wonder if JC would be up to flying there to see them. He walked into the room and sat down next to me. "Are you ok?" "Uh, yeah." "I don't think you are. What's wrong?" "I think I'm going to go to Detroit to see Todd and Natasha. You wanna go with me?" He smiled. "Yes. I'd love to."
The water in the shower hit my skin and relieved all my stress. Steam poured through the bathroom. The water was near boiling I'm sure. I love it when it's hot. The door opened and closed. The curtain opened slightly and I saw JC. "May I join you?" I smiled. "Do you even have to ask?" He smiled and stripped down. After a few seconds he was in the shower with me. "Oh my God! Is this hot enough?" I smiled and wrapped my arms around him. "I like it hot."
The next week things were back to normal. I was going to work again, with a few reprimands of course, and JC had completely moved in and his house is being bought as we speak. There's only one little thing that's out of the ordinary: I'm late. I don't exactly know what to say to JC. I mean, I know we want kids, I'm just not sure I want them this quickly. I walked into work with a little more on my mind than the agenda for the day. "Morning Kara. How you feeling?" Charles, one of my producers, asked me. "Uh, good." "Well that's good. You ready to get started?" "As ready as I'll ever be." Dick walked into the room. "Kara, I've taken the liberty of scheduling a press conference for the release of your new cd." "When?" "Two days." I sighed. "Once again, thanks for asking me if I'm ok with this." "I don't have to ask you. I'm you're boss."