Three weeks later, Caroline finally felt like her life had started to adapt itself to the task of being JC's assistant.

Kevin had even called and told her personally that JC was incredibly pleased with her.

"JC says you're the best he's had yet," he'd assured her.  "So don't fall off the wagon now, because at this point, it seems you've ruined every other assistant for him from now on. "

Caroline didn't think she was close to falling off any wagons anytime soon, but it would have been nice to hear it directly from JC for once.  She finally felt like she had a good handle on the way he liked things, and though she consistently seemed to surprise him with her motivation to be proactive, he always remained the same - bored and impassive towards her in general.  Caroline could tell when he tried to throw her curveballs, but she was close to mastering the art of absorbing them in with the rest of the routine effortlessly.

The weekends were a welcome reprise, for the most part.  Though Brandon still worked Saturdays, at least they had Sundays together to decompress and just be.  However, Caroline had a sneaking suspicion that Brandon was growing weary of JC even from afar.

"Why does this need to be here?"  he'd asked about the copy of JC's schedule she'd affixed to their own refrigerator.  "I don't want to look at all the bullshit promotional crap this guy has to do.  What the hell is a CosmoGirl Webisode interview?  Are those even real words?"

The truth was, Caroline had brought the schedule home for a reason.  It seemed that when she was missing from his home for a couple of days, JC's world tended to fall apart.  He'd started calling her regularly on Friday nights and Saturdays, asking her where she'd left his dry cleaning or if he had something pressing coming up because he was thinking about flying to Aruba for a week.  His questions were increasingly useless and unimportant, and incredibly annoying when they came at the most inopportune times - once he'd called while Caroline and Brandon were fully ensconced in some very compromising positions under the covers.  Caroline had attempted to ignore the call, but JC kept calling back until she finally slipped out of bed to answer.  Brandon had given her the silent treatment for a full twenty-four hours after that.

In fact, JC's constant communications had grown so frequent that Caroline had arrived to work one morning to find a slim black Blackberry box sitting on her desktop.  She'd set it aside, thinking that maybe JC had left it there on accident, when he flitted into her office to demand how she liked her new phone.

"This is for me?" she'd asked, and JC nodded, rolling his eyes. 

"Why else would it be on your desk?"  He'd opened the box with a practiced quickness and ran her through all of the features of the ridiculous gadget, even showing her how to input his schedule directly into the phone itself. 

"It's on my plan," he'd assured her.  "Now you can get rid of that ancient little flip phone you have."

Caroline hadn't minded her old cell phone, but she had to admit that the Blackberry was fun.  She'd even caught Brandon examining it one time, though he'd denied it vehemently and launched into another tirade about why it was totally unnecessary for JC to be paying for her phone plan.

Another part of Caroline's new routine involved getting to JC's at 8:00 on the dot.  She found it easier to get started on the day when he wasn't already up and nagging at her about something.  Additionally, she'd taken on the task of making coffee herself so that she could always have the first cup of a fresh pot, rather than the dregs of whatever JC had left over.

On this particular Wednesday morning, Caroline had only half-noted the additional car in the drive.  She had become used to greeting JC's one-night stands on their walks of shame every so often, but she couldn't help but notice that this car wasn't shiny and new.  Instead, it was a tan-colored Toyota Camry with a sizeable dent in the back bumper.  Caroline shrugged it off on her way up the front steps.  Maybe JC was slumming it for fun.

She followed her usual procedure flawlessly, closing the massive front door behind her and pausing to check for any new messages on JC's personal house phone in the foyer.  The only person who seemed to call and leave messages there was his mom.  At this point, Caroline had spoken to her personally several times and she seemed like a humble, kind lady.  She was having trouble reconciling JC to her biologically, but Caroline knew that many would say the same about her own mother for different reasons.

The sound of muffled curses came from the kitchen, and Caroline sighed, hoping JC wasn't having one of his "uber-productive" days, as he called them.  Usually they consisted of him staying up all night in the studio, drinking two full pots of coffee before 7 am, and then being wired all day.  They may have been "uber-productive" for him, but for Caroline they were anything but.  She'd quickly learned that having JC literally buzzing around the house all day was completely counterproductive to her getting anything done at all.

Instead of JC, Caroline found a young guy with a blond buzz cut standing in front of the coffee machine, the espresso tamper in one hand and the other on his forehead, looking distressed.  Caroline cleared her throat and he whirled to look at her.

"Hi," she greeted, only slightly unsure.  Various people were in and out of JC's house all the time, so this wasn't too strange.  Although this guy didn't look anything like JC's usual crowd of stars and starfuckers. 

"Oh.  Hi."  The man motioned at the coffee machine helplessly.  "Look, I know you're probably leaving, but do you happen to have any idea how to work this thing?"

Caroline frowned and took a step into the kitchen, setting her bag down on the counter.  "Why would I be leaving?  I just got here."

The man matched her frown.  "For what?"

"For work."

The man's frowned deepened even more and he glanced at his watch.  "This early?  Jesus, Josh.  Ew."

Caroline blinked.  "Excuse me?"

Before the man could respond, JC appeared in the far doorway of the kitchen, slipping his phone into his pocket.  Caroline wasn't surprised to see him already dressed and ready for the day, she knew he had a consult downtown with some MTV producers that afternoon. 

"Oh, good.  You two met."  JC made a beeline for the fridge, sighing heavily when its usual contents stared back at him  "Damn it, I really need to get some food in here.  Caroline, can you make a list?"

"A list of what?" Caroline asked, already pulling her Blackberry out. 

"I don't know.  Groceries.  Stuff normal people eat."  JC pulled out a takeout container of old Chinese food that Caroline was sure had been in there for at least two weeks.  Throughout their exchange, the young man by the coffee machine stared openly at Caroline. 

"She does your shopping?" he asked.  JC pulled a fork out of a drawer and sat down at the island. 

"Uh, yeah.  She does whatever I want her to," he announced smugly.  For his tone of voice alone, Caroline kept her mouth shut as JC took a big bite of his noodles, smiling when he promptly spit them out.

"Except tell you how old those leftovers were," she pointed out in a singsong voice, and JC scowled. 

"Wow," the man echoed, his expression still a mixture of disgust and awe.  JC set his fork down and pushed the takeout container aside. 

"Tyler, what is your problem?  Caroline's my assistant, it's what assistants do."

Tyler straightened and cocked his head.  "This is Caroline?  This is your assistant?"

Caroline watched as JC nodded slowly, as if speaking to someone mentally impaired.  "Who did you think she was?"

Tyler cleared his throat and looked away, shrugging at the coffee machine.  A second later, Caroline gasped as the full implications of his silence hit her.

"Oh, God.  You thought I was...you thought we were..."  She motioned towards JC and shivered in revulsion.  "Oh, gross.  Yuck.  No, no way.  That's...ew."

Tyler chuckled and JC, a bit slow on the uptake, observed their exchange quietly.  "Wait, what?"

Tyler extended his hand towards Caroline.  "I'm JC's brother.  Sorry about that, I'm just...kind of used to assuming with Rico Suave over here."

Caroline shook his hand.  "Not a problem.  I can make some coffee, if you want." 

Tyler handed her the espresso tamper in relief.  "Please."

JC seemed to have finally worked out their conversation and was back to scowling.  "Fuck you guys."

Caroline just laughed as she got out the coffee filters.  Tyler leaned against the counter and laughed, too.

"In my defense, didn't you usually sleep with all of your old assistants?"  Tyler asked.

"Not all of them," JC replied.  "Not the fat one."

Caroline gasped, hitting the button that would start the hot water flowing through the machine to eventually brew out coffee that tasted the same as Folgers but cost twice as much to make.  "You pig."

Tyler shook his head, no longer laughing.  "Dude."

JC threw up his hands.  "What?  Just being honest."  He shrugged.  "Anyway, I stopped doing that because they usually thought I was their boyfriend afterwards and stopped working as hard."

Affronted, Caroline picked up her bag, pausing only to put her lunch in the fridge before heading out of the room.  She could do without coffee right away if it meant getting away from JC in asshole mode.  She half-heard him calling after her on her way into the office but ignored it.

Only an hour had passed before JC tracked her down.  Caroline kept her eyes on the monitor in front of her as she composed an email to JC's publicist.  JC leaned against the doorjamb, eating something crunchy, and waited until she finally looked up at him to speak.

"You almost ready?" was all he asked, and Caroline stared at him blankly.  "For the meeting."

"I'm not going with you," she said, glancing at the schedule for clarification although she knew it by heart.  "It's not highlighted.  And it's not until 11, so I don't know why you're leaving so early."

"I'm leaving early because the location was changed to North Hollywood," JC replied, taking another bite of the apple in his hand.  Caroline frowned. 

"That wasn't run by me."

"I know.  They called here this morning."

"And you actually answered the phone?"

"Yep.  Aren't you proud?"  JC grinned through another bite of his apple and Caroline's frown deepened.

"Where did you get that apple?"

JC faltered for only a moment.  "Mariella gave it to me."

Mariella was JC's housekeeper who came on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.  Caroline crossed her arms over her waist. 

"Mariella's not here today.  JC, where did you get that apple?" 

Suddenly very interested in a speck of lint on his button-up shirt, JC replied, "I found it."

"Where did you find it?"

"In your lunch bag."

Caroline threw up her arms and turned back to the monitor to finish and send her email.

"I was hungry," JC pointed out, taking a couple steps into the room.  "And I don't have any food."

"You could have asked," Caroline replied, enunciating each word carefully to keep her tone even.  As annoyed as she was at JC, she wasn't quite ready to lose her cool in front of him yet.

"Sorry.  I'll buy you a new one.  I'll buy you a whole bag of new ones, but you have to come with me to this meeting."  JC aimed and tossed the apple core in the wastebasket across the room, pumping his fist when he made the shot.  "You can help me at the grocery store after."

Caroline sighed, glancing down at her cluttered desktop.  "I have a lot of work to do here."

"Come on.  It'll be fun."  JC stood across from her desk, not looking like he was anywhere near giving up.  Caroline pressed her lips together and stood, reaching for her purse.  She didn't think "fun" was an accurate depiction at all, but what option did she have?

Tyler was camped out on the couch, a large, heavy-looking book in his lap.  He waved as they passed by.

"I didn't know you had a brother," Caroline remarked casually as she followed JC out to the garage. 

JC nodded, pausing at a lockbox that Caroline knew held a plethora of car keys.  "I have a sister, too.  They both live in DC.  Tyler's in his last year of law school, so he doesn't make it out here a lot."

Caroline flinched when JC tossed her a set of keys and fumbled them in her hands. 

"You drive," he announced, making his way past his everyday Jeep to a shiny, two-door Mercedes.  Caroline stared. 

"Uh, no.  No way."

JC leaned against the passenger door with a sigh.  "Don't be a baby."

Caroline stared at the car in horror, afraid to even begin to imagine how much it would cost her to replace if anything went wrong.  "Why don't we take the Jeep?  I can drive the Jeep."

"I doubt that.  It's a stick."  Looking haughty, JC motioned to the sports car again.  "Most people would die to drive this car.  You should be thanking me.  Unlock it."

Caroline fumbled with the key again as she pressed the tiny button that released the locks on the car doors with a click.  JC climbed in the passenger side, and Caroline remained motionless, staring at the car.  She actually did know how to drive stick, but JC seemed past the point of arguing.  Finally, he honked the horn from inside, startling her.

You can do this, Caroline thought.  It's just a car.  If anything happens, it's JC's fault for forcing you into it, anyway. 

Caroline climbed in the car gingerly, the soft leather supple beneath her hands.  The seat was adjusted for someone taller than her, probably JC himself, and she sat motionless in the driver's side, dumbfounded. 

"There's a handle on the left hand side," JC instructed, tapping at something on his phone.

Caroline found the handle and adjusted the seat carefully until she felt marginally more comfortable.  From the inside, the car wasn't much different than any other car.  She just had to forget what it was, that was all. 

Making it out of the garage, down the driveway, and out of JC's sparsely populated neighborhood wasn't much of a problem.  It wasn't until they got into downtown traffic that Caroline found herself clenching the wheel more tightly.  Though she had GPS to aid her, the trip to the MTV offices in North Hollywood consisted of the most tension-filled forty-five minutes that Caroline had ever experienced in her life.  JC was no help, on his phone most of the time, and didn't look up until Caroline pulled shakily into a parking space outside of the building.

"Nice.  You did it."  He winked at her and checked his reflection in the rearview mirror before slipping out of the car.  Caroline sat in the driver's seat for a few minutes, carefully removing her aching hands from the steering wheel and taking a few deep, calming breaths. 

As it turned out, she had a whole ninety minutes to catch her breath as the MTV producers requested a "closed door" meeting, which was really a polite way of saying she wasn't welcome.  Caroline sat in an overstuffed chair in the lobby and tried to decompress from the ride.  At first thankful for the break, once regaining her bearings, she became anxious thinking about the pile of work she had left to do back at JC's house.  Caroline answered emails and did what she could from her Blackberry, but she kept tabs on the time and watched the double doors that led to the conference room, her tapping foot keeping time with the ticking clock.

Finally, just as Caroline's stomach started to rumble and she thought longingly about her lunch in the fridge, the doors swung open and JC emerged.  Caroline stood and waited politely for him to say his goodbyes to the big wigs before heading out to the elevator with him.

"How'd it go?" she asked, not really caring about the answer and pressing the button for the lobby quickly.  Unfortunately, someone called to hold it, and JC stuck his arm out, preventing the doors from sliding closed.  A beautiful curvy redhead slipped into the cubicle with them, beaming her thanks at JC, who returned the grin easily.  Caroline rolled her eyes and smacked the door close button with a sigh.

"It was fine," JC replied to her, finally tearing his eyes away from the female.  "We're due to start filming again in March.  They'll CC you on the details to Kevin."  Caroline nodded and opened her mouth to enquire about the tentative schedule when she was interrupted by their companion.

"Excuse me, but...are you JC Chasez?" the curvy woman questioned and JC turned to her, all smiles.

"Sure am."

The woman's hand fluttered up to her collarbone and her cheeks flushed.  "Oh, wow.  I'm a big fan."

Caroline leaned against the wall of the elevator, watching the floors descend on the digital display as JC moved closer to the woman.  By the time they reached the lobby, he'd already acquired her name and phone number.

"'Bye, honey," he called over his shoulder as they parted ways with the woman (aptly named Candace...Candy for short) in the downstairs lobby, and Caroline was beginning to get a headache from rolling her eyes so much.

"Can you drive now?" she asked, but JC shook his head before she could finish asking the question. 

"I don't like to text and drive."  He waved his phone at her.  "I just got the digits, Caroline.  Gotta plant some seeds."

"Already?  Haven't you ever heard of playing hard to get?"  She slid behind the driver's seat without further complaint, more in a hurry just to get back to the piles of work waiting for her.  JC shook his head, tapping furiously into his own Blackberry. 

"Haven't you ever heard of getting famous and not needing to?"  He glanced at her suddenly, expression suddenly wary.  "Maybe I better quit while I'm ahead.  Don't want you to get all offended on me again."

Caroline resisted another eye roll as she pulled out of her parking space using the car's cool little backup camera.  "Well, what you said was offensive."

"My apologies," JC responded, not sounding very sorry at all.  "Now.  Grocery time." 

Caroline sighed.  "Why don't you just tell me what you want and I'll stop by somewhere on my way in tomorrow?"

"Nope.  Now."  JC finished his texting and slipped the phone into the front pocket of his jeans.  "Where do you like to shop?"

"Whole Foods, usually."

"How trendy of you.  Let's go."

Using the GPS to find the nearest market, JC took a more active interest in Caroline's navigational skills this time.  Unfortunately, he remained unhelpful and showed his true colors as the worst backseat driver of all time. 

"You forgot your signal," he pointed out as Caroline pulled into the Whole Foods parking lot. 

"Excuse me for the extreme desire to get out of this vehicle as quickly as possible."  Caroline found the nearest parking spot and shut the car off.  Her hunger was getting to her; she was getting cranky, and her insufferable companion wasn't helping one bit. 

JC let her take control of the cart in the store, choosing instead to be the captain of their trip, leading the way down the aisles and being humiliatingly loud about asking her where things were. 

"What the hell is this?" he demanded, holding up a head of kohlrabi.  A few nearby shoppers glanced in their direction and Caroline rubbed her forehead. 

"Nothing you would like.  No, we're not getting that.  Put it back," she urged, but he'd already slipped it in a bag and tossed it in their cart.  "I thought you only liked processed food."

"I'm turning over a new leaf."  JC stared pointedly at her flushed face.  "Am I embarrassing you, Caroline?"

"No," she lied.  "What else do you want?  I'm hungry."

"Why didn't you say so?"  JC made a show of putting several apples in a bag.  "I'll buy you lunch, since I tainted the one you brought with you today."

"That's okay," Caroline insisted.  "There's plenty left for me.  Let's just go back to the house, please."

"What is this?  You don't want to be seen with me?"  JC asked.

"I'm already being seen with you," she said.  "There's just...not a lot of places I can eat out.  At least not places you probably like."

"Ah, that's right.  A vegan."  JC pulled the cart in the direction of the checkout lanes.  "I think we can find somewhere suitable."  Once they were in line, he pulled out his phone and started tapping away.  "How about Lotus?  It has great reviews."

Caroline shrugged; she lived in downtown LA, not the artsy districts of NoHo.  "I don't know, JC."

"Lotus is wonderful," the apparently nosy Whole Foods employee at the checkout counter interjected.  "I would absolutely recommend it." 

"Oh yeah?"  JC loaded the last of the food on the belt and pulled out his credit card.  "Good vegan food?  Because she's a real vegan."  He pointed at Caroline and she resisted to urge to hide her face. 

"Completely vegan," the clerk assured JC.  "You'll love it."

"Great.  It's settled then."  JC smiled triumphantly at Caroline who loaded the grocery bags into the cart without a word.

Caroline didn't really make a habit of frequenting any restaurants on a regular basis.  It worked out well because she was so careful about what she ate, and Brandon didn't like to try new things.  They went to the noodle house, or the deli down the street from their apartment, and that was about it. Caroline was sure JC would have accused her of leading a life of monotony, but it was her monotony, and she liked it.  It was familiar.  Thus she couldn't help but feel nervous when they arrived at Lotus. 

The restaurant was housed in a dumpy little green building off Vineland Ave, right next to an art gallery, of course.  JC's flashy car looked profoundly out of place on the street parking, next to all of the Volvo station wagons and hybrid cars.  JC led the way inside and asked the hostess for a table on the patio.  Caroline waited behind him, somewhat relieved that they were at a place where no one was very likely to notice him.

"What do you think?" JC asked, once they were seated under an umbrella, menus in front of them.  "Can you dig it?"

Caroline tapped her fingers on the menu and thought wistfully of the vegetable wrap she'd packed for lunch, now miles away up in the Hollywood hills.  "Yeah, sure."

The waitress had tan skin and dreadlocks pulled up into a mass on her head.  "What can I get you guys?"

Caroline found a raw veggie wrap on the menu and ordered it, along with a glass of water.  JC rested his chin in his hand and smiled up at the waitress.  "I'd really just love a cheeseburger."

The waitress' smile was only slightly placating.  "How about the cowboy burger?  It's wheat meat sautéed in a yummy garlic cilantro sauce.  I can add some soy cheese for you."

Before Caroline could warn JC away from it, he nodded jovially.  "Sounds great.  With French fries, please."

The waitress took their menus.  "How about sweet potato fries?"

"Even better."

The discomfort that Caroline felt at being at a restaurant like this with JC was slightly amended when their food arrived.  Her veggie wrap was remarkably similar to the one she had packed herself, if not better.  Alternately, JC's meal looked deceptively close to an actually cheeseburger.

"Finally.  I'm starving."  Caroline watched silently as JC picked up the burger and took a huge bite.  His face promptly fell and his eyes widened.  Caroline pressed her lips together to keep from smiling, but it didn't work.  She noticed a couple at the table across from them staring, and she hoped JC didn't decide to spit his food out.

To her relief, he swallowed, then picked up his glass of iced tea to guzzle nearly half of it down.

"What is this shit?"  He frowned down at the burger.  "This is what you eat?"

Caroline shrugged, taking another bite of her wrap, which she had to admit was quite delicious.  "Sometimes."

"Ugh."  JC picked up one of the sweet potato fries and put it in his mouth experimentally.  Apparently it passed, because he picked up another one right afterward.  "Why would you do that to yourself?  Meat tastes so good."

"I wouldn't know."

JC gaped at her.  "You're telling me you've never even tried it?  No beef?  Chicken?  Fish?"  Caroline shook her head to every option.  "Why?  That's crazy to me."

"I was essentially raised on a raw food diet," Caroline admitted, pausing to take a sip of water.  At JC's blank look, she clarified, "That means everything was uncooked.  Primarily vegetables and fruit."

"Why?"  JC asked again, polishing off the last of his fries. 

Caroline wondered why herself sometimes, but she didn't tell him that.  "My mom was...is kind of a hippie, I guess."

"So you've never gotten curious?" JC asked, leaning across the table towards her.  "You've never wanted to try even a bite of fried chicken?  Filet mignon?  Bacon?"

Caroline shook her head.  "It's all I know.  And I like it."

This was where she expected him to attack her life choices a little bit, but he said nothing.

JC asked for a box for the rest of his burger, claiming he would take it home to trick Tyler with.  Caroline got behind the driver's seat of the car again without argument, and maybe it was just satiating her appetite, but pulling out into traffic wasn't even stressful.  She even flipped on the radio when they stopped at an intersection, scanning through the stations idly.

Caroline didn't know a lot about pop radio, but she did know who Justin Timberlake was, and that he was a former bandmate of JC's.  When his song "Sexyback" came up over a station she paused on for a moment, she turned up the volume.

"This is probably more your speed," she said, and JC surprised her by rolling his eyes.

"Just because it's on Kiss FM doesn't mean I like it," he replied drily.  Caroline raised an eyebrow.

"But I thought...aren't you guys close?"  JC smirked.

"Me and Justin?  We were close.  Past tense."

Caroline opened her mouth to ask JC to elaborate when all of a sudden, the car's engine sputtered and died.  She panicked, letting go of the steering wheel with a gasp.

"I didn't do anything!" she insisted.  JC's arm shot across the car, grabbing onto the wheel as the car slowed down in the middle of traffic.  Already the driver behind them was laying on his horn.

"Calm down," he ordered, smacking the button that turned on the car's hazard lights.  "Put your hands back on the wheel."

His voice was authoritative but controlled, and Caroline obeyed his demands without question.  She glanced down, watching JC shift the car into neutral.

"Pull over as soon as you can," he instructed.  "I'll get out and push if I have to."

Caroline aimed the car for the first spot she saw and was able to maneuver it to the side of the road without any pushing needed.  She shifted the car into park and realized that a few tears had come out of her eyes in the terror of the moment.  She wiped them away quickly.  JC pretended not to notice.

Caroline stayed in her seat as JC got out and opened the hood of the car.  From her vantage point, all she could see was the top of his head and steam pouring off of the engine.  The urge to cry returned - her worst fear had come true.  She'd broken JC's car and now she was going to have to pay for it. Maybe he would even fire her.  Shit.

She rested her forehead against the steering wheel and allowed a few more tears to escape, but willed herself not to get hysterical.  She didn't look up until her door opened.

JC stood in front of her, arms crossed over his chest.  He looked so menacing that Caroline had to bite her tongue to avoid sobbing.  He was silent for a few moments, but when he spoke, his voice was alarmingly soft.

"Why are you crying?"

Caroline blinked up at him, a couple more fat tear drops falling off of her lashes.  "Because...because I broke your car."

JC sighed and uncrossed his arms, resting one on the roof of the car and crouching down slightly to look her in the eyes.  "Caroline, how could you have broken the car?  You didn't even do anything."

She shrugged, reaching up to wipe her eyes.  "I don't know."

"Well, I'm ninety-nine percent sure it wasn't your fault."  JC straightened up again.  "There's tissues in the glovebox."

Caroline reached over and pulled out a plastic wrapped packet of travel tissues before getting out of the car to join JC in front of the open hood.

"So, what happened?" she asked, trying to dry her eyes without smearing any more mascara than she already had.  JC shrugged.

"I have no fucking clue.  I don't know a damn thing about cars," he admitted.  Caroline stared blankly at the steaming engine for a few moments before the light bulb went on.

"I'll call Brandon," she said, and JC frowned.

"Why?"

"He's a mechanic.  He works at a garage.  He can send a tow truck."  The situation seemed suddenly lighter to Caroline, and she fumbled in her pocket for her phone.  "He'll know what's wrong.  He knows all about cars."

JC watched her dial the garage's number by memory.  "Your boyfriend's a mechanic?  I thought he was a musician."

"He is," Caroline said.  "But that doesn't pay the bills.  Well...not in everyone's case, anyway."

"Touché," JC muttered, kicking at a rock on the street.  Caroline turned away from him as Mike, one of Brandon's coworkers, answered the call.

"Carl's Full Service Garage.  Mike speaking."

"Hi, Mike, this is Caroline.  Is Brandon available?  It's kind of an emergency."

"Yeah, hold on."

Caroline watched JC circle the car a few times, muttering curses to himself. 

"Caroline?  What's wrong?  Are you okay?"  Brandon came over the line sounding frantic, and Caroline realized maybe emergency hadn't been the best choice of word.

"Yeah, babe, I'm fine.  It's actually more of a car emergency than anything else."

Brandon sighed on the other end.  "Okay.  What's the issue?  Did you run out of gas again?"

Caroline pursed her lips.  Would he never let her live anything down?  "No.  It's not my car.  It's JC's."

"Oh.  What's wrong with it?"

"We don't know." 

Brandon paused.  "Alright.  Where are you?"

"North Hollywood."  She winced, anticipating his response.  

"North Hollywood?  Jesus, Caroline." 

"I know, I know.  I'm sorry." 

"It would cost you about eighty bucks to get a tow truck out there from anywhere else."

Caroline shifted her weight.  He could be such an asshole sometimes.  "Well, maybe I should call somewhere closer, then."

"No, don't do that.  I've got something I'm working on here, but I'll send Mike with the truck."

"Thank you."

"Yeah.  What were you doing all the way out there, anyway?"

"JC had a meeting.  And then we got lunch," she added, feeling that it was going to come up later, anyway. 

"You got lunch?"  Brandon echoed.  Some commotion sounded in the background and he sighed.  "I gotta go.  Mike will be there in twenty minutes."

"Thanks," she said, but Brandon had already hung up.  He wasn't happy, that much was clear. 

"Well?"  JC stared at her expectantly, hands on his hips.  His gentle demeanor from earlier had all but disappeared, and now he looked sullen, like a little boy who'd been sent up to bed without dessert.

"Twenty minutes."  Caroline slipped her phone into her pocket and sat down on a set of steps nearby to wait.  JC remained standing, pacing the length of the car and kicking something every now and again.

Mike showed up and hitched the car in record time.  Caroline didn't miss the look on his face when he got a look at it for the first time.  He raised his eyebrows at Caroline but she just shrugged.  She sat in the middle seat in the bumpy tow truck, sliding on the ripped vinyl in between Mike and JC, who sulked and stared out the window the whole time.

Brandon strode out of the garage to meet them when they arrived.

"Hey."  He nodded coolly at JC and wiped his hands on a rag.  "So what happened?"

JC remained silent so Caroline replied.  "The engine just kind of...died.  While I was driving."

"You were driving?" Brandon asked.  At Caroline's nod, he raised an eyebrow and continued.  "Any strange noises?"

"No."

Brandon cleared his throat and glanced at an expressionless JC before addressing Caroline again.  "I'll have Mike pull it in and we'll take a look at it."  He motioned towards the waiting area as he moved past her.  "You know what to do."

The coldness Brandon was emanating gave Caroline the shivers despite the warmth of the midday.  JC made a beeline for the waiting area and collapsed onto one of the plastic chairs within, as if the day had taxed him completely.  Caroline lowered herself into another chair, purposefully leaving two empty ones between them.  She had to agree that the day had been incredibly long.  As she watched Brandon and Mike jack up JC's car on the other side of the glass, she realized that the night was probably going to be even longer.

JC stayed silent long enough that Caroline started to think that he had potentially fallen asleep, but she kept her focus on Brandon out in the main garage.  He and Mike huddled together over the open hood, pointing at different things and talking quietly.

Finally, Brandon made his way towards the waiting area, and Caroline sat up straighter, feeling inexplicably nervous.  The old door squealed on his way in, but she didn't dare look over at JC to see if he was awake.

"Well."  Brandon tossed the now dirty rag in his hands down on the front counter and leaned against the corner of it unceremoniously.  This time he looked directly at JC, and Caroline couldn't ignore the challenge in his gaze.  "When was the last time you changed the oil in the car?"

JC straightened up and shrugged one shoulder.  "I'm, uh...not sure."

Brandon shook his head, scoffing ever so lightly.  "You're lucky you didn't completely wreck the engine.  The only thing that saved you from throwing fifty grand down the tube is the low mileage.  The engine shut itself down when it started to overheat, but you burned out almost all of your spark plugs and the head gasket.  It's not gonna be cheap."

Caroline clenched her fingers in her lap and glanced at JC, who just nodded thoughtfully.  

"Since the car is an import, it'll take a few days to order parts," Brandon continued.  "We can take care of it here, or you can arrange to have it towed to a dealership.  Your choice."

JC stood, pulling out his phone.  "I'll leave it here.  I trust that it's in capable hands."

The tension in the room was almost tangible.  Without another word, JC slipped out the door on the opposite side of the waiting room, and Caroline let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

She turned back to Brandon, but was surprised to see that he was already on his way back out to the garage, the squeaky glass door slamming shut behind him.  Swallowing her pride, Caroline followed.

He at least had the good grace to turn when she called his name.

"What's the deal?" she asked softly.  "I feel like you're angry with me and I don't totally understand why."

Brandon stared at her.  "What do you want me to say?"

Caroline sighed.  "I just want you to tell me what you're feeling."

A short, humorless laugh was her response.  "What I'm feeling?  Well, right now I'm feeling mostly annoyed that someone who could afford a car as nice as that one doesn't have the brains to change the oil every once and awhile.  And on top of that, I'm feeling a little frustrated that I have to fix said car for him, which won't exactly be easy."

"Just tell him to send it to the dealership then," Caroline said, but Brandon just glared at her. 

"You don't get it, do you?  I can't do that because the same asshole is my girlfriend's widely successful boss, who just happened to be taking her out to lunch when said incident occurred."  He punctuated his statement with a raise of his eyebrows, as if daring her to challenge his logic.  Caroline shook her head slowly.

"That's ridiculous.  What does that have to do with anything?"

Brandon rolled his eyes and turned away.  "Never mind.  I've got work."

"Brandon," Caroline started, but he'd already walked away, leaving her standing like an idiot in the middle of the garage.  Mike strolled past with a low whistle, eyes wide.  Caroline spun on her heel and stalked back into the waiting room, her head swimming with the deep amount of shit she was in.

JC was back inside when she returned.  "My insurance is sending a rental car over," he informed her, not looking up from the old Reader's Digest he was thumbing through.  "I think we'll call it a day once we get back."

Caroline didn't argue.

She got home two hours earlier than usual, well before Brandon, but as exhausted as she was, there was no time to rest.  Caroline called the noodle house, relieved to find that Brandon's friend and bandmate Jake was working, and put in an order for delivery.  She did her best to make sure the apartment was spic and span, and took the stairs three at a time to hurry down to their basement level storage space to search for a nice tablecloth.

By 5:30, she had just about every candle they owned lit all throughout the apartment, dinner set perfectly on the table, and she'd rustled up and put on Brandon's favorite outfit of hers, worn blue jeans and the black Queen t-shirt she'd been wearing the night they'd met.  6:00 came and went, and Caroline began to feel nervous.

At 7:25, the door to the apartment opened and Caroline jumped out of her seat on the couch.  The food had long gone cold and most of the candles had burned down considerably, but she forced a hopeful smile anyway as Brandon stepped inside. 

He glanced around, shrugging out of his jacket, and nodded at her slightly.  Caroline took a deep breath - she hadn't expected it to be that easy, after all.

"Hey," she greeted, smoothing her hands over her jeans.  "I was waiting for you."

"We had practice," Brandon replied.  "It's on the calendar."

He nodded in the direction of the fridge and Caroline felt her smile falter a bit.  "Oh.  I guess I forgot."

Brandon smirked and moved to head past her.  "Figures.  You pay more attention to his schedule than mine these days."

Caroline's shoulders sagged, but she wasn't ready to admit defeat quite yet.  "Brandon, wait.  Can we just talk this out?  Please?"

Brandon turned to face her, his expression unreadable.  "I don't know, Caroline.  Can we talk it out?  Again?"

Her hands clenched into worried fists.  What was he insinuating?  "Brandon, please.  You're...you're making me nervous."

He sighed, shaking his head.  "I don't know what you want to hear from me that I haven't already said.  This job...it's taking over your life.  First he buys you a phone, now he's taking you out on lunch dates?  It's a little too much to handle."

Caroline sank down to sit on the arm of the couch, flustered.  Brandon had never been the jealous type before, what was different?  Especially when the man in question was her boss, and someone she felt absolutely no attraction to, physical or otherwise.  "It wasn't...he's my boss, Brandon.  Nothing more.  He hasn't overstepped any boundaries, and neither have I.  He offered to buy me lunch, I tried to turn him down, but..." She shrugged helplessly.  "It happened, and if I'd have known it would upset you this much, I would never have done it.  I promise."

Brandon seemed to soften slightly, taking a few more steps back into the room.  "I'm not upset...not anymore.  It just makes me feel...uncomfortable."

Caroline nodded, reminding herself to hear him out.  If there was anything she'd learned from decades of watching her own parents fight, it was how to mediate an argument.  "Okay."

"And...I don't know."  Brandon sat down on the arm of the chair across from her.  "Inadequate, I guess.  He's a freaking famous pop star, with billions of dollars and a sick house and a bunch of cars."  He paused.  "And I'm just...me."

Caroline smiled.  "But I love just you.  Just you is all I've ever wanted."

Brandon nodded slowly.  "Yeah.  That's what I keep trying to tell myself."

Tentatively, Caroline stood up and closed the short distance between them.  "If you want me to quit, I will."

Brandon shook his head.  "I can't ask you to quit.  That's not fair."

"Baby, you can ask me to quit, because this," she motioned between them as she neared him, "is more important to me than any job.  I can find something else."

Brandon reached for her when she got close enough, pulling her into his arms and onto his lap.  "Something that pays as much?"

"Well, probably not," Caroline admitted, and he smiled, pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

"It's fine.  Just male insecurity."

"I didn't know that existed."

"It's pretty similar to the female version, just with more punching things."

Caroline laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck.  "This has been the shittiest day.  I missed you so much."

Brandon kissed the line of her jaw, then her lips, and Caroline felt every ounce of stress just seem to melt away. 

"I got dinner," she murmured against his mouth.  "But it's probably cold."

"We can heat it up," Brandon replied, then smiled.  "Later.  I need a shower.  How about you?"

Caroline had already taken a shower, but she couldn't find any reason at all to argue.