Most of the following questions were the same. I began to relax. This isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Then came the question I've been fearing. The reporter stood up with a smug look on her face and a folder in her hands. "I have here some photographs of you and a Mr. JC Chasez. I also have inside information that the two of you were wed two weeks ago. Any comments?" I lowered my head and sighed. "Let me see the pictures." They were brought to me and I flipped through them. They were miscellaneous pictures from out honeymoon: us on the beach, eating dinner, and kissing in numerous places. "Ms. Harper, do you have any comments?" I looked up at the reporter and smiled. "Yes, we're married. What else do you want to know?" "When were you planning on telling your adoring public?" "Probably not until I was forced to. I'd prefer it if people didn't take prejudice against me." "How long have you and Mr. Chasez been together?" "All will be revealed. Just not now." Hands flew into the air and Dick walked to the microphone. "That will be all. Ms. Harper will be leaving now. Thank you."
I got home that night and saw JC was glowing. "Honey, I have the greatest news!" "What?" "A song that we did for the movie soundtrack is number six on the charts! People love Nsync again! I have a job again!" I hugged and kissed him. "I'm so happy for you." He frowned. "What's wrong?" "Nothing. Don't worry about it. I don't want to stink up your good day with my bad one." "Tell me." "Ok. I just got back from a press conference and they had some pictures from our honeymoon. Well, people know about us now." "What all do they know?" "Just that we got married two weeks ago. I wouldn't say anything else." He smiled and kissed me. "And this was a bad thing why?" I stared at him blankly. "Oh come on. They were going to find out eventually. No use in making a big deal out of it." "Nice to know that you're taking this so well." "What's the big deal? You need to learn not to let other people bother you. I've learned how." "You've also had years more experience." He kissed me again. "It will be ok." "For your sake I hope you're right. Those pictures are going to be out in a matter of days."
I stood in my bathroom leaning over the sink. The pregnancy test sat on the counter. In a few minutes I'll know if I'm pregnant or not. My stomach was churning and I felt I was going to be sick. I've never been this nervous in my life. I started pacing through the bathroom. Whenever I passed the sink I glanced at the test. Nothing yet. Why in the hell does it take so long? I sat down on the toilet and started fidgeting. My foot was moving back and forth quickly and my fingers were tapping my leg furiously. I looked down at my watch and saw that five minutes had passed. I jumped up and looked at the test. Blue. What does blue mean again? I looked at the box and saw that blue means pregnant. My heart started beating faster and a smile spread across my face. Time to tell daddy.
I walked into the bedroom and laid down on the bed next to JC. "Hey." he said kissing me. "Hey." I was smiling like a maniac and he noticed. "Uh, what's going on?" "Oh nothing. I was just wondering what daddy wanted for dinner." "Well, pizza sounds... Wait. Daddy?" I smiled more. "Yeah. I'm pregnant." After a moment of silence he jumped up and kissed me. "Oh my God! Are you sure?" "The test was blue." He smiled and kissed me again. "I love you, I love you, I love you." I giggled. "I love you too."
"When are we leaving?" I asked JC while getting ready to go meet his family. He looked at his watch. "Well, the plane leaves in a half an hour, so I figure we leave in five." "Shit. Start loading the car. I'll be down as fast as I can." He picked up the bags and left the room. I hurriedly brushed my teeth and packed the rest of my bathroom things. I ran downstairs and outside. He was still packing. "I'm going to start the car." "Damn. In a hurry?" "Yes."
In a few hours we were at his mom's house. "You ready for this?" he asked. I smiled nervously. "I guess." "You'll be fine." He leaned over the seat and kissed me. "Don't worry." We got out and walked to the front door. My heart started beating faster as he opened the door. "Mom? Dad? Where are you?" A woman walked down the stairs and smiled. "Hello son. This must be your lovely bride." I smiled. "Yes it is. This is my Kare Bear." "It's nice to meet you. JC's told me so much about you." "Like what?" I asked looking at JC. "Just that you're the most wonderful woman he's ever met and he's so lucky to have you." I blushed. "Aww, how sweet."
We sat down in the living room and talked with his mom. "Mom! Are JC and his wife here yet?!" a boy yelled coming down the stairs. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me. He didn't move and his mouth slowly opened in shock. "Tyler? Hello?" JC said. "Uh.... Uh... Is this?..." "Yes?" "Is this your wife?" "Yes." "You-you got married to Kara Harper?" "Yes." He slowly walked over to me. "Uh, I'm Tyler, JC's brother." I shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you." "Same here." He sat down in a chair opposite us. "So JC, what's this big news you have for me?" He turned to her and smiled. "You're going to be a grandma." Her eyes widened. "What?" "Kara's pregnant." "I thought you told me she wasn't." "That was three weeks ago. We just found out a few weeks ago. And besides, it couldn't have happened before we got married. Well, not too long before we got married." "What do you mean?" "Uh... Tyler, could you leave the room?" He sighed and got up. "I'm an adult now you know." he mumbled as he left the room. JC turned back to his mom. "Ok, I don't think you're going to like this, but keep in mind you asked. The night before we got married was the first time we.... had sex. It was also the first time we proclaimed our love and actually did something about it instead of just running away." I snorted. "Gee thanks." He smiled. "It's the truth. So really if she did get pregnant that night it wouldn't really matter. We were married a few hours later." "So you got married after only one day?" his mom asked. "Yeah." "Well that's a little spontaneous." He smiled. "Yeah."
That night we sat around the table eating dinner. "So what are you going to do about, you know, the whole touring thing now that you're pregnant?" Heather asked. "I'll go as long as I can. But once I have the baby I'm demanding time off." "And what about you Mr. regained popularity?" He smiled. "I want to be with my family. Nothing's going to ruin that." I smiled and he held my hand under the table. "Isn't that the sweetest thing?" Heather said smiling.
We went to bed and held each other in the dark. "What do you want to name our baby?" he asked. "I don't know." "I like David for a boy." I smiled. "That sounds good. How about Natalie for a girl... That's my mom's name." "Then that's what we'll call her." He kissed my forehead. "I love you." "I love you more." "I doubt it." "Ha! There's no way you can love me more than I love you." He turned me on my back and straddled me. "Let me show you how much I love you." "Here? In your parents house? With them right down the hall?" "Yeah. It'll be like high school." I raised my eyebrow. "Like you never snuck a guy in before." he said. I smiled. "Ok. Show me."
The next morning I woke up to the smell of bacon and other fried, greasy food. I sat up and took a big whiff of the air. "Awake?" I looked down and saw JC smiling at me. "Does your mom cook like this every morning?" "Yes." "Oh my God. I want to move here." "Odd. I spent eighteen years of my life trying to get away." He sat up and kissed me. "You want to go get some food?" he asked. "As soon as I get dressed and stuff. I'll be down in a minute. That food is calling me."
I stood in front of the mirror brushing my hair. My thoughts flew back to my childhood again. *I was standing on a stool in the bathroom looking at myself in the mirror. The door flew open and Todd stood there. He was holding Natasha's hand. "Come on, we have to go." "Where?" "Somewhere. Dad's home. We have to leave." I jumped off the stool and ran out of the house with him. We jumped into the car and mom ran out with a few suitcases in her hands. She opened the driver's side door and threw the bags into the empty front seat. The doors locked and she started the car. The front door of the house flew open and my dad came running out. He began banging on the window. "Open the fucking door!" She began sobbing. The car began moving backwards and he walked with it. "Open the door God damnit!" The window shattered with the pressure of his fist. "Shit!" He yelled crouching to the ground and clutching his bleeding hand. We pulled away and left him there to bleed.*
"Honey, are you ok?" I snapped out of it and saw JC standing behind me. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine." I said dazedly. "I don't believe you. What's wrong?" "I was just thinking about my family." "Are you going to be ok to go there tomorrow?" "Yeah. I should be fine." He kissed me. "Let's go downstairs and get something to eat." "Ok." We walked into the kitchen and I saw the biggest breakfast set up I've ever seen in my life. There were pancakes, doughnuts, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, and all different kinds of fruit. I stared in awe at the food before me. His mom patted my back and led me to a seat. "You need all you can get since you're eating for two now."
The next morning we had our things packed in the back of his sister's car. "Thanks for everything mom. I'll call you when I get home in a few days." JC said to his mom as we stood in the doorway ready to leave. "You better call. I want to see how my new daughter-in-law and my unborn grandchild are doing." She said giving me a hug. "I'll tell you everything." He said. "Thanks for your hospitality. It was great meeting you." I said. "It was great meeting you too. I'm glad to have you as a part of the family." I smiled and JC put his hand on the small of my back. "Well we have to be going. Our plane is going to be leaving soon." "Ok. I'll see you guys later. Bye!" His mom and dad said bye and his brother and sister came to the car with us.
"So JC, what were you telling mom when you made me leave the room?" Tyler asked once we were driving to the airport. "If I didn't want you to hear it then, I don't want you to hear it now." "Why? I'm a big boy, I can take it." Heather laughed. "You just want to hear some sex talk. You're such a pervert." she said. He groaned. "Whatever." "Anyway, JC, are you coming up for Easter?" "Yeah. By then my baby will be showing her baby." I smiled. "Just a little." He rubbed my stomach and kissed my cheek. "Well isn't that just sweet?" Heather said looking in the rear view mirror at us. JC smiled. "Yeah, it is."
"I don't understand it. I go to your house and I freak out. You think you'd be freaking out now that we're going to mine, but no, I'm freaking out again." I said as the cab drove us to my old house. My brother lives there now so it's a great opportunity to drown in my childhood sorrows again. "Try to be calm. You've been here not too long ago." "Yeah, but that was for my mom's funeral. Now I don't have an excuse not to talk and be chipper. I guess I could use the whole pregnant angle." He smiled. "I'm making you talk and be chipper. You're not leaving me alone to do all the talking with people I've never met before." "Well I don't want to talk." "But you have so much to say. You haven't so much as told them that you got married." "Yeah yeah yeah."