Three weeks before America's Best Dance Crew was due to begin filming again, JC strode into Caroline's office, dropped a sheet of paper on her desk, and informed her that he was leaving for Maryland and would be gone for two weeks.

"What?"  Caroline picked up the itinerary he'd set down.  "But what about the rest of your calendar?"  She picked up the nearest copy and waved it at him.  "You have two weeks' worth of appointments and functions scheduled."

JC shrugged on his way out of the office.  "Cancel everything."

"What?!" Caroline repeated, panic creeping into her voice.  She pushed her chair back and hurried after JC.  "What do you mean, cancel everything?  How am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know, Caroline.  Make it work."  JC paused to pick up his wallet from the narrow console table in the foyer.  "I leave tomorrow morning."

"JC, this is...this is ridiculous," she sputtered.  "You can't just pick up and leave like this, with no warning whatsoever.  Does Kevin know?"

Though he'd already pulled the front door open, JC slammed it shut again with a suddenness that made Caroline jump.  He turned to face her, tearing off his sunglasses to reveal bloodshot eyes and generous bags beneath them. 

"Allow me to correct you, Caroline.  I can just pick up and leave like this.  You know why?  You work for me."  The last statement wasn't quite shouted, but it was close enough.  Caroline could feel the intensity of his words reverberating through her body even from five feet away.  "I pay you to make this shit work, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable or impossible it is for you.  So I expect you to get what I want done, when I say it, without question.  Understood?"

Caroline stared at him, appraising her boss with a certain concern she'd never found herself feeling for him before.  While JC was somewhat of an enigma to her in general, and he wasn't exactly the most average person she'd ever met, Caroline was fairly sure he was a smart guy who had most of his life put together.  She'd never seen him this way - looking haggard and unkempt and just so thoroughly not handling life well.  She found her eyes trailing to his shoes.  She'd learned by now that JC always wore nice shoes when he was leaving the house, whether they were impeccably shined Dolce and Gabbana wingtips or spotless Puma sneakers.

Today, he had on the rattiest pair of old Nikes Caroline had ever seen. 

She swallowed hard and found JC's contemptuous gaze once more.  He was still waiting for her to respond and she forced herself to nod carefully.

"I understand."

"Peachy."  JC replaced his sunglasses and turned back to the door, wrenching it open and slamming it behind him with a force that seemed to rattle the entire façade of the house. 

Caroline stared at the closed door for a few moments, listening to the non-existent sounds in the silent house.  After a few moments, she returned to the office, her hands shaking.  She sat in her chair motionless for almost five full minutes before picking up the phone and calling Kevin.

"He's what?" Kevin demanded.  "For how long?"

"Going to Maryland.  For two weeks," Caroline repeated, her eyes scanning the itinerary JC had given her.  "And Kevin, I know this isn't my place to say, but..."

Kevin sighed heavily.  Caroline could practically see him in his office, rubbing his temples methodically.  "What, Caroline?"

"JC didn't...he didn't look good.  I don't know if something...happened, or what...but he looked like shit."

Kevin didn't say anything for a few long minutes. 

"Have you noticed anything specific?" he asked finally.  "Can you think of anything that might have set him off in the past few days?"

Caroline tapped her fingers on the desk and thought hard.  JC had been in and out of the studio all day Monday, he'd barely even had time to bother her.  Even over the weekend he'd been oddly quiet, phone-wise.  Caroline had only received one text from him on Friday night, asking where she'd put the phone number for the car service he used sometimes.

"No, Kevin, I really can't.  Nothing has seemed out of the ordinary until now."  Caroline found JC's departure time the following morning on the itinerary.  His flight was scheduled to leave at 9am the next morning. 

"Alright."  Kevin sighed.  "Well, if there's anything I've learned from working with celebrities, it's that they know better than the rest of us when something's off.  Maybe JC just needs to get away for awhile."

Caroline nodded but didn't say anything as she flipped through the phone messages she'd already taken down for the day.

"I know it won't be easy, but go ahead and do what you can to cancel everything he has until the ABDC taping begins again," Kevin instructed.  "And if anyone gives you trouble, tell them to call me and I'll take care of it."

"Alright."  Caroline located the message she'd been looking for and pulled it out of the paper-clipped stack.  "Sorry, Kevin."

"Not your fault," Kevin said.  "We'll make it work.  Goodbye, Caroline."

Caroline hung up the phone and re-read the message in her hand.  She hadn't put two and two together when she'd taken the message, but the car service had called early that morning and told her that the car JC requested wouldn't be available the next day after all as they had overbooked.  Caroline had taken down the message without thought and set it aside to deal with later.  Now she had to be the one to break the news to her apparently very stressed out boss that the car he'd scheduled wouldn't be taking him to the airport the next morning.

Putting first things first, Caroline began the enormous task of clearing JC's schedule for the next fourteen days.  As Kevin had warned her, it wasn't easy at all, and almost no one she spoke with was understanding.

"This has been booked for weeks," complained the representative she spoke with at a local news station.  "How am I supposed to fill this slot on such short notice?"

"I'm very sorry, sir," Caroline re-iterated for the umpteenth time.  "But a family emergency has come up, and Mr. Chasez will be out of town for some time."

"Better be some emergency," the grumpy man snarled. 

And so went the numerous other phone calls Caroline made.  She skipped lunch to finish, and felt completely ready for a nap once she was finally done.  She only allowed herself a brief moment of rest, with her forehead pressed up against the cool surface of her desk, before returning to her list of damage control.  The next task was to find another car to get JC to the airport.

Caroline called every car service she knew of, plus a few that she didn't, but everyone was completely booked on such short notice.  One service offered to take him to the airport at 5am, but Caroline knew JC would object.  By the time 4pm rolled around, Caroline had no leads whatsoever, and the sound of the front door opening and closing almost stopped her heart.

She waited motionless, praying that it was Mariella even though she knew the housekeeper had already come and gone for the day.  She heard footsteps crossing the house towards the office and tensed slightly, but they passed right by, heading for the studio.  The door shut softly and Caroline relaxed, before realizing she needed to just bite the bullet, or she'd be here all night.

Taking a few calming breaths first, Caroline gathered her wits and crossed the hallway to the studio door.  The stairs were empty, and the door at the bottom was shut, it's ever present "QUIET" sign taped in place next to the schedule.  Caroline descended the stairs as quietly as possible and removed the schedule from the door, since it was all null and void now anyway, before she knocked softly.

She wasn't sure if she was expecting a response or not, so when JC called, "Come in", she hesitated for a moment, unsure if she'd actually heard him or not.

Caroline opened the studio door carefully and took a cautious step inside.  JC was sitting in one of the leather swivel chairs, his back to her as he clicked at something on the computer.  Caroline froze in the doorway for a moment, realizing slowly that she'd just invited herself into the lion's den.  Why hadn't she just left a note and booked it?  She was so screwed.

JC glanced over his shoulder at her while she was busy contemplating her fate.  "Sit down," he said, motioning to the other chair, and Caroline blinked in surprise.  She let her feet carry her across the room to the chair, sitting down on the soft leather gingerly. 

"JC, I have-" she began, but he cut her off.

"Can you listen to something for me?" he asked, not looking at her.  "Something about this chorus isn't sounding right to me, but I need a fresh set of ears."

He clicked something on the computer, then adjusted a dial on the huge soundboard before music came flowing out of the speakers.  Caroline listened to the refrain he played, trying her best to be expressionless.  It was very standard pop, not at all her music of choice, but she wasn't about to tell JC that.

When the music stopped, he glanced at her curiously, chin in his hand.  "Well?"

"Um."  Caroline shrugged.  "Sounds great."

JC sighed and turned the dial back down, looking back at the computer.  "Guess it's just me."

He didn't necessarily look as frazzled as he'd seemed earlier, though there was definitely a sort of glumness about him that wasn't usually there.  Caroline shifted in her seat, glancing down at her hands to realize that she'd folded and re-folded the old schedule until just a small square remained.

"I cleared your schedule," she announced.  "You're free for two weeks.  But-"

"I shouldn't have yelled at you," JC interjected, still staring at the computer screen.  "It was unprofessional, and I'm sorry."

Caroline swallowed.  He did actually sound unusually sincere.  "It's okay.  But-"

"It's really not okay," JC said, cutting her off once more.  "If I were you, I would quit."

Did he want her to quit?  Caroline shrugged one shoulder.  "I don't want to quit, but JC-"

"You don't have to give two weeks' notice or anything," he pointed out.  "If you want to quit, quit."

Caroline sighed, her anxiety giving away to frustration as usual.  "JC, can you just listen for a second?"

JC swiveled his chair away from the computer to face her completely.  "Listening."

"The car service called this morning," Caroline said carefully.  "They're overbooked, and you don't have a ride tomorrow.  I called every other service I could think of, but-"

"What?"  JC sat up straight, his impassive expression beginning to fade into anger.  "What the hell does that mean, they're overbooked?"

"I'm not sure, but-"

"That's bullshit."  JC stood up, and Caroline flinched but he didn't notice.  "That's no way to run a business.  I'm calling them."

Caroline scrambled out of her seat as JC started up the stairs in long strides.  "JC, wait!"

She managed to catch up to him in the office, phone in his hand as he shuffled around papers on her desk.  Caroline crossed the room towards him and took the receiver out of his hand. 

"Will you calm down?" she ordered, too flustered by his sudden shift in mood to be afraid of his reaction.  "Seriously."

JC glared at her and sat down heavily in her chair.  "I'm not leaving one of my cars at airport parking.  Last time I did that, the Jeep got keyed, and I still had to pay 20 bucks a day."

This was the first time Caroline had ever heard JC complain about how much something cost, but she didn't point that out.  She hung up the phone and tried to fix the mess he'd made on her desktop.

"We'll figure something out."  She glanced at her watch and sighed with resignation, knowing what the dilemma would eventually come down to.  The question was, should she wait for it to happen naturally, or just get it over with and end the hullaballoo?  "I'll just drive you."

JC's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest.  "That's not in your job description."

"I do a lot of things that aren't in my job description," Caroline snapped, flicking a stray piece of hair out of her eye as she finished re-straightening her desk.  "This is the only solution that won't keep me here all night, so can we just agree on it?"

JC stood, looking unsatisfied.  "My flight leaves at 9."

"I know."

"I'll have to be there at least two hours early," he said, clearly trying to bait her.  Caroline did her best to stay stoic.

"I'll pick you up at 6:30, then."

Clearly at a loss for anything more to argue on, JC turned on his heel and stalked out of the office.  Caroline sighed heavily, turning to sit on the edge of her desk.  After regaining her senses a bit, she made the decision to leave early, as well as take the following day off.  Now that JC had a clear schedule, she felt he owed her a get out of jail free card.  It was just a plus that Wednesday was Brandon's day off as well.

Caroline used the motivation of her free day to haul herself out of bed at 5am the next morning.  Leaving Brandon snoring peacefully next to her, Caroline forced herself through the motions of getting dressed, not bothering to try looking good in any sense of the word.  She pulled on a pair of yoga pants with an old t-shirt and Brandon's least favorite pair of shoes that she owned, her Uggs.  They had been a gift from her fashion-conscious stepmother a couple years before, and Caroline forgave them their unattractiveness for their supreme comfort. 

She forced herself to eat some breakfast while she waited for coffee to brew, and when it was done, poured it in a travel mug to take with her.  She would much rather err on the side of being early to JC's, and it was already 5:30.

Caroline made the drive in the early morning light, struggling to muffle her yawns.  JC's garage was open when she pulled up, and a small mountain of suitcases were awaiting her arrival at the bottom of the front steps.  She was shoving the last of them into her backseat when JC appeared.  He looked considerably more put together than he had the day before, but still less-polished than usual in a zip up sweatshirt  and jeans.  He was also fairly unshaven, but Caroline was surprised to find that the unkempt look kind of worked for him.

"Morning," he greeted flatly, pulling a gadget out of his pocket to close the garage door.  He tossed the messenger bag that was slung over his shoulder into the passenger seat of Caroline's car, following right behind it.  Caroline rolled her eyes and finished fitting all of his luggage in her backseat before forcing the door closed.

The drive to the airport was relatively silent, JC only speaking when his phone buzzed, announcing a call.

"Hi, Mom," he said, his voice sounding somewhat hoarse.  "Yeah, I'm on the way to the airport right now.  No, Caroline's driving me."  He paused to sigh and turned to Caroline.  "My mom says hi."

"Hi, Karen," Caroline responded as she took a left turn towards LAX departures.  Even this early, the airport was already abuzz with activity, and she worked hard to carefully weave her way through traffic to find the Virgin America hub. 

"Yes, Mom, I will.  Okay.  Yep.  Gotta go.  Bye."  JC hung up his phone just as Caroline pulled up to the sidewalk.  Thankfully, he actually helped her unload all of his bags onto a metal caddy, and Caroline glanced at her watch as she closed her trunk.  It was just past six, and in about a half-hour, she would be back at home in bed, ready to sleep in.