"Chasez, where are you taking me now?" Liz laughed as JC pushed her into the passenger seat with a grin on his face and ran around the car to get into the driver's seat.

"You okay?" He asked with a happy grin.

"Yea," she giggled, nodding. "But you're starting to lose me with all these places we keep going! We've been driving around all day!"

JC laughed, switching on the engine. But Liz was right. They had been driving around all day. Saturday morning, and JC had called her at nine o'clock, waking her up I might add, and said that he'd be in front her house within the next fifteen minutes. To her shock and not taking him seriously, she just shut off the phone and fell back asleep. Twenty minutes later, the profuse sound of her doorbell ringing without stopping made her get out of bed and open it with a scowl on her face on to find JC standing there with a bright smile and let himself in. After much complaining and ‘we can go out later' from Liz, JC had gotten her back on her good side and managed to convince her into showering and letting him take a for a breakfast.

He was also happy to show off to her his newly bought Black Jeep Cherokee he had let himself buy just a couple days before. She was pleasantly surprised, but still confused as to what he had planned for that day. First was the hour long breakfast JC had insisted he'd pay for, then he drove them to the mall where he dragged her into almost every store that had a mannequin wearing attractive clothes in the window. All she wanted to do was window-shop, but JC kept throwing various articles of clothing into her hands. From tank tops, to designer jeans, to jackets even to a couple pair of heels he caught her looking at. Of course, to JC's frustration, she kept shooting him glares and refused to take any of it unless she paid for it herself. JC let her buy a pair of jeans for herself and a new jacket and he agreed to stop offering to buy her everything feminine he saw in his sight if she let him buy her one thing. She settled on an ‘I © NSYNC' t-shirt she had spotted at the side of a store they walked past. After much huffing and puffing and rolling of the eyes, JC reluctantly paid the cashier for the less than special gift but still chose to hold the bags. She was glad he had the funds to walk around a mall and just buy whatever he pleased without bothering to check the price tag, but she didn't like to be spoilt. She was appreciative of the fact that he wanted to spoil her, now that he could, but there was nothing that he could present to her that she necessarily wanted besides him, which she already had. By this time it was almost one in the afternoon and JC was still as lively as he was when he showed up at her door. She on the other hand, enjoyed spending time with him, but was getting tired of the running around.

"Josh..." she smiled, looking at him as they eased onto the road. "Where're we going now?"

"Are you not enjoying the time we're spending together right now?" he faked a sad face.

She laughed, nudging him playfully. "You know that I am Jace. I just find it weird you taking me all over the place like this."

He shrugged. "I don't got much time before we go back into the studio to finish recording, and I want to be with you as much as possible."

"And your solution was taking me out for day in your company?"

"Indeed," he nodded.

She giggled. "Well where to now? "

"I got an appointment kind of thing I got to get to now actually,"

She frowned. "Appointment kind of thing?" she questioned.

"And you're coming with me," he smiled.

"What kind of appointment?"

"You'll see,"

She folded her arms across her chest. "Why didn't you tell me you had an appointment somewhere? You can just drop me off back at the house."

"I can't do that," he said simply. "I'm taking us to lunch afterwards. Wherever you want... Whatever you're feeling for..."

"Josh..." she whined.

"We won't take long," he promised.

"Well what am I going along for?"

"Like I said... You'll see."

"Wow," Liz murmured, taking off a seat belt and looking out the window. "Josh, who lives here?"

JC let a small smile creep up on his face and shrugged. "No one, I guess."

She got out of the car slowly, looking up and admiring the large two-story French Chateau-style home JC had parked in front of.

"You like it?" He asked, snaking an arm around her waist and looking up at the house himself.

She nodded. "It's really big," she giggled.

He chuckled.

"But yea, it's beautiful." She turned to at him and crinkled her eyebrows. "What are we doing here?"

 "C'mon and let's check it," he smiled, leading her up to the door and opening.

"Grace?" he called out, entering the house.

A woman looking about thirty and wearing a pair of black dress pants, a dark black dress jacket that covered up almost all of her white inner-piece and black heels walked in holding a clipboard. Her hair was in a high ponytail and she greeted JC and Liz with a big smile.

 "Good afternoon Mr. Chasez," she greeted JC as he closed the door behind them. "Right on time you are,"

He shook her hand. "Nice to see you again Grace," he smiled. "Yea, I brought someone with me this time, just to be sure, you know."

Nodding in understanding, she smiled and looked at Liz.

"Girlfriend?"

Liz felt her cheeks get hot as JC put an arm around her and answered. "Yup,"

The woman put out her hand. "I'm Grace, JC's real estate agent. Nice to meet you."

Liz smiled politely and shook her hand. "I'm Liz, nice to meet you."

"Well now that we've all gotten acquainted," Grace turned back to JC. "Shall we begin the tour?"

JC nodded.

"Great! Follow me then,"

When she turned her back, JC intertwined his and Liz's fingers and she looked up at him questioningly. He just smiled and continued on to follow the woman into the living room.

A half hour later, when the tour was done, JC and Liz stood downstairs in the large kitchen of the house. Grace had entered another room to take business call which gave the two some time alone together. JC smiled to himself with his arms folded and he leaned back against the island. He watched as Liz ran her fingers over the stainless steel of the stove and over the gleaming marble countertops in the white and dark brown kitchen where the bright sunlight shone through the large windows.

"You like?" he asked.

She turned around to look at him. "This is my kind of kitchen," she grinned. "I love it,"

Not only did she love the kitchen, but she loved the 1930s built house itself. If she had the kind of money JC had, she'd have built one just like it if not bought this same one. There were four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms including the one master bedroom and connected bathroom as well as a large, cozy fireplace built in to the living room. There was a large 7ft deep swimming pool in the backyard and a boat dock leading out to a quiet lake. To top it off, there was a soundproof basement downstairs that JC already had plans of turning into a home studio.

"So you like it?" JC asked, abruptly snapping her out of her thoughts.

She looked around the kitchen, trailing her fingers over the marble design on the counter. "I'd kill for a kitchen like this," she mumbled.

"You want it?" he asked casually.

Her head snapped up to look at him and she laughed lightly. "Look Josh, I know you guys are finally in the money or whatever but I am not letting you buy me a house!"

He smiled, coming off from leaning against the island and walking up to her as he stuffed his hands in his front pockets.

"But that's why I brought you with me,"

She stared at him. "To buy me a house!?"

"No baby," he laughed. "Well, not exactly. We're all moving out eventually, so I got Johnny to hook me up with real estate agency and I found Grace who showed his house a few days ago when I bought the Jeep. I wanted your approval before I sealed the deal."

She smiled. "How come?"

"'Cause if this is the place where I'm going to be living, I got to make sure you like it too. I plan on getting you to live with me someday you know," he told her softly. "So you've got to like this house too baby."

She looked up at him. "You want me to live with you someday?"

He chuckled. "I did give out that offer a couple months ago but since we won't go back to that, I'm starting new."

"What about a house in LA?"

He shrugged. "I don't need it right now. When I'm not on the road, I want to be with you and if Orlando is where you are, then Orlando's where I'm staying."

She smiled. "Jace, are you sure?"

He took her hands and looked her in the eye. "Would it scare you if I told you I do want to have a future with you?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure..."

"Then one day, whether it's sooner or later, I want us to be together in this house. Maybe married and you know, in a few years, have a few little footsteps running around."

She smiled softly. "Thinking that far ahead already huh?"

He nodded. "I love you that much."

"But you want that kind of life? Marriage and kids?"

He shrugged. "I do want a life after my career and I do want you to be in that life."

"Almost sounds like a proposal there," she mumbled.

He shrugged. "Someday, but when I actually do it, it won't sound so stupid,"

"Hey, I love what I got with you right now. Marriage isn't the main priority on my mind Jace,"

He nodded. "I'm cool with that,"

"How much is it though?" she asked.

"How much is what?"

She giggled, stepping away from him. "The house Josh,"

"Oh," he smiled. "It's uh... Actually it's a little over a million. 1.2 million to be exact."

"Okay, then..."

"I can afford it now Lizzie," he chuckled.

She smiled and nodded. "I know, and I like the house Jace but you need to make sure that you like the house too, not only focus on me."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I like it, that's why I brought you here so that you could approve of it."

"If you like it, then so do I,"

"Sorry about that," Grace apologized as she walked back into the room, stuffing her phone back into her jacket pocket.  "Have you decided on whether or not you want the house Mr. Chasez?"

Liz looked at JC to hear his answer. Thinking for a moment, a small smile crept upon his lips. He nodded. "Yea, I'll buy."

JC walked in to the living room of the home the five members would share for only a few more weeks and stumbled upon at least a dozen cardboard boxes stacked one on top the other on either side of the room.

"What're the boxes for?" JC asked as Justin entered the room, a comic book in hand.

"Oh, those are Chris'." Justin explained. "He's out by the end of the week so he wanted to start packing."

"Oh,"

"What about you C?" the younger member smiled. "You got the deal done?"

JC nodded and grinned. "Yea, I'm out of here by the end of the month."

"Cool," Justin nodded. "Man, it's weird... Living here for so long and then leaving. Kind of sad..."

JC laughed. "J, we're still going to be together three hundred days out of the year when they put us back on the bus for tour!"

"Crap, I thought I was going to be done with you guys after I got my own place," Chris joked, walking into the room with a Sharpie marker in hand.

Justin and JC rolled their eyes.

"Where's Joey and Lance?" JC asked.

"Well you see," Chris started. "Superman was trying to fly off the springboard out by the pool and lost his balance so he ended up just falling into the water and his ankle hit the board. So Poofoo over there-" he pointed to Lance as the blonde haired member walked into the room holding a bag of frozen peas. "-has to take care of him."

"He's okay though?"

Lance nodded. "Oh yea, he's fine. He can still bounce around don't worry."

"Oh, okay good." JC nodded.

"Hey, today was the day you took Lizzie with you to see the house, wasn't it?" Lance questioned.

"Yea, she liked it and so did I, so I bought it. Out by month end..."

"Did you ask her?"

JC sighed. "She isn't looking for marriage right now J,"

"Not even a promise ring?"

JC shrugged.

"So I take it you didn't even ask her..."

"I can't... I don't think I could if I wanted to..."JC shook his head and clutched the small navy blue box in his hand that he had kept in his wallet. Smiling as he rested down on the coffee table, he sighed. "It's not the right time right now."

4 weeks later

"Dammit Josh!" Liz grumbled using a cloth to clean up the mess of orange-brown spaghetti sauce JC had made on the cream cushions on his couch. "You got this couch two weeks ago and you've already left your mark on it!"

"The fork slipped out of my hand!" He insisted, looking down at his now stained shirt. What he really meant to say what that he missed his mouth because he got distracted by a commercial where the girls were playing volleyball on the beach. "I'll just flip over the cushion, no big deal."

Liz got up, tired of the scrubbing and looked at his shirt. "You should eat with a bib that's what you should do," she mumbled.

JC rolled his eyes.

"Just put your shirt in the washing machine and I'll call a dry cleaner tomorrow to get this cleaned."

"Or you can clean it for me," JC smiled, pulling his shirt over his head and throwing it at her.

She threw it back at him but didn't share the same teasing mood he was in. She was tired, irritable and JC had just put their home made dinner on hold when he dropped his food. "Do it youself,"

He frowned. "I was kidding you know,"

She shrugged, picking up her plate from the coffee table and taking a seat on one of the recliners she had helped him pick out at the furniture store. She had practically been living there since she helped him move in two weeks ago, and JC didn't mind it. She came over after work and usually stayed till after midnight and then he'd drop her home or she'd fall asleep with him. It started happening so frequently she even kept some of her clothes and necessities in his bathroom that she too, had helped him organize. Tonight however, she had a bad day at work and was PMSing. Emma had flown back to Nashville for a family event that Liz was invited to but there was no one to take over the job so she had decided to stay with JC until she came back in a couple days. She had decided against moving in with him, but yet here she was almost every day in his house with him at all hours.

She turned back on the TV and used her fork to cut a meatball in half. "I'm just not in the fun mood tonight Jace,"

He went over to her and took a seat on the recliner next to her. "I knew there was something different about you today when I picked you up from work but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. What's bothering you?"

She shrugged. "PMS, I guess?"

He smiled. "Anything else that I could probably help with?"

 "I just guess today wasn't one of my good days. Work sucks, just so you know."

"Missing Emma huh?"

"Well, as crazy as she is she is the one that keeps things sane in that place,"

"She'll be back in a coupla days babe, don't worry about it."

"I miss her, but I don't think that's it."

JC leaned in more. "Go on,"

"I just need a break from there, I guess," She mumbled. "I love my job but sometimes I just don't want to do it. Just take a break and chill out. I'm tired and stressed and..." she shrugged. "I don't know... Just having an off day today, you know."

He stroked her arm gently. "Sorry I made a mess," he chuckled.

 "Yea, yea," she giggled.

He smiled at her. "You want to sleep now? Sleep off the day and get up new in the morning?"

She sighed. "I kind of want to sleep in my own bed tonight. It's got nothing to do with you, I swear, but I just miss my bed. I've been around here more than I've been at my own house."

"Mi casa es su casa," he reminded her.

"Can you just carry me home tonight?" she asked. "Tomorrow's Sunday, pick me up in the afternoon and we'll do something, alright?"

He frowned and got up. "Fine, I'll give you your space if that's what you want..." he mumbled.

**

He pulled up outside her house, the engine still running as they both sat in the car in a brief silence.

"Thanks Jace," she smiled at him, leaning her head against the seat.

He nodded. "Tomorrow right? You said that we'd do something."

"Yea, okay..." she agreed. "Sorry I wasn't much fun tonight."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Besides, maybe tonight I'll actually get some sleep without having to hear your snoring."

She gasped, swatting his arm.

"I do not snore!" she insisted, turning a bright pink.

He laughed. "I have the recordings if you want ‘em!"

"I hate you," she mumbled. "And how would you know anyways when you sleep like a freakin' dead man?"

He grinned. "You know you love me,"

She turned to get out the car. "Goodnight Josh,"

"No waiittt," he whined like a child.

"What now?" she giggled.

"Don't I get a goodnight kiss?" he pouted.

She rolled her eyes and planted a quick peck on his cheek. "That better?"

"Not even close," he shook his head. "Try it again,"

She sighed and leaned in toward him, holding his chin between his thumb and index finger. Giving him at least six seconds of tongue action she pulled away and he kissed her cheek.

"Now was that better?" she asked.

"Much," he nodded.

She giggled. "Love you Jace,"

"Love you too babe,"

She took off her seatbelt and JC reached over to unlock the door. Whilst doing so, he felt something poke his leg gently through his pants. And then he remembered... The blue box he had been carrying around for almost three weeks now. Realizing he had it in his pocket and she was halfway out the car door, he stopped her and pulled on her wrist.

"Lizzie!"

She got out and lowered her head to his eye level through the window as she shut the door. "What?"

He stared at her, his hand clutching his pocket but no words came out of his mouth. He just stared, his mouth a little open. A panic raced through his veins as he silently gave the matter some thought. Liz however, was getting impatient as to why he stopped her.

"Joshua..."

He noticed she had an eager look on her face and he knew that she was tired. It was cold outside anyways, and she was already slightly shivering when a breeze passed by.

With his mouth still open, JC caught himself and shook his head. "Nothing, nothing..." he cleared his throat. "Sleep tight babe,"

She crinkled her brows but nodded. "See you tomorrow Jace,"