2 years later

Rolling hills had replaced the view of the lake he usually stared out at and lazed around. His boat that he took out when he wanted a small getaway for himself was no longer a mere twenty feet away from the dock. It was much quieter in this gated part of Los Angeles- a little cooler than Florida too.

Aside from the fact that his hair was longer with some dirty blonde highlights, nothing much had changed if you didn't include the move.

That was the thing, though. That's where he was conflicted. He wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing- that nothing much had changed.

JC always believed there was room to grow and he tried to embrace new things as much as he was allowed to, but maybe he took advantage of the fact that so little had changed he thought that that's the way it would always be.

Until recently, that is.

"Babe?" Liz rested a hand on his back gently, but JC jumped slightly at her touch.

He snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of her voice.

"Oh, hey," JC smiled, straightening his posture. He was leaning over the balcony, overlooking the way the mid day Sun reflected on the surface of their pool as he stood on the terrace area just outside their bedroom.

"You been up long?" Liz asked, her hand still on his back.

JC shook his head and stretched. "Only for about a half hour. I didn't even hear you pull in to the driveway."

"You were deep in thought," she told him, just as JC leaned in the peck her on the lips.

"Did you need help bringing in the groceries?" JC asked. "I got your voicemail when I woke up."

"Nah, it was only a couple bags," Liz told him, tucking a short piece of her dark brown hair behind the air. "I already unpacked ‘em. I went looking for you downstairs in the studio first."

JC turned back to stare out at the backyard. "I've just been out here... Chilling."

"Oh, um," Liz reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. "Chris and Justin both called me this morning. They weren't getting through to you on your phone. Chris said he's gonna be in L.A. next week for some business and since he doesn't have a place here, I told him he could stay with us. We haven't seen much of him since the Celebrity tour ended."

JC sighed silently. "What'd Justin want?"

"Oh, he called to see how you were doing. We only talked for a few minutes. The usual, ‘hey, how's it going?' thing. He's back and forth between L.A. and Memphis. He's doing pretty good, by the way."

JC simply nodded, his eyes aimlessly wandering into the distance, not staring at anything in particular.

He was silent for a few more seconds before Liz had to snap him out of it- Again.

"Baby?" she called out to him.

JC turned his head to look at her. "What?"

Liz frowned. "Are you okay?"

JC shrugged. "More or less. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You seem bothered by something."

JC shook his head. "It's nothing. I just..." He shrugged. "I just got a lot on my mind right now. I'm a little mellow today."

"Oh." Liz moved closer to him and matched his position. She leaned over the balcony as well, relaxing close enough to him so that their shoulders touched. "You wanna talk to me about anything?"

"I don't know," JC mumbled. "I don't know if I want to talk about it. I don't know if I have that kind of energy."

"So there is something."

"There's a lot of ‘somethings'," JC admitted.

"So talk to me," Liz encouraged him.

"What time is it?"

Liz checked her watch. "Quarter to one. We have our doctor's appointment in forty five minutes and you still need to shower so start talking. Please?"

JC looked at her. "That right there. That's one of the things I've been thinking about."

"Baby," Liz intertwined one of her hands into his. "What're you talking about?"

JC looked at their hands tangled together and frowned. "For the past few days, since the tour ended, all I've been doing is playing in the studio and hanging by the pool waiting for you to come home from work and that doesn't happen till four or five, maybe six o'clock at night. When you do get home, it's just us."

"You said you were looking forward to that sort of schedule. I thought you were looking forward to sleeping in all day and doing whatever you wanted whenever you wanted to do it when I'm at work, now that you don't have any set plans. You said you liked how things have been- just me and you."

"I do," JC insisted. "But... We've been trying for so long to make it ‘the three of us' that it's only now starting to sink it now that the tour's over and there isn't much for me to do around here."

"That's what this is about?" Liz asked gently. "That we don't have a baby yet?"

"That's some of it but think about it, Liz. Why don't we have a baby yet?"

"This isn't the conversation I expected to have after coming home from the grocery store," Liz murmured. "Is that what you've been thinking about, Josh? Us not getting pregnant?"

"It's about me not being able to get you pregnant since the second miscarriage happened," JC admitted softly. "That was eight months ago and we haven't gotten back on track since then. Now it's come to the point where we have to start seeing fertility doctors to see what's going on with our bodies? It's weird to me."

"But that's not your fault. None of that is your fault. You can get me pregnant. You've done it before- twice. It's just that my body rejected the pregnancy both times. If it's anybody's fault, it's... Mine."

"It's not your fault, Lizzie."

"And it isn't yours either so stop that."

"Joey already has Briahna and the two of us can't even seem to get through the first trimester without something going wrong."

"Josh, stop, please?"

JC looked at her and realized that Liz was already beginning to pull away from him and wanted to drop the conversation- The usual things she did when they were nearing a topic that was a little too close to home for her and JC had learned over the years to pick up on them quickly.

"Look, I'm sorry," he apologized, slowly pulling her back closer to him and kissing the side of her head.

"Don't be so negative about this," Liz told him. "Don't compare us to Joey and Kelly. Don't compare us to anyone. Lots of people don't get pregnant exactly when they want to. It'll happen. And starting from today, we're gonna be getting help from a doctor to see what's going on. It'll be okay."

"It was just seriously starting to bother me when I know every month comes around and it gets to you when you find yourself still not pregnant. I know it gets to you."

"Of course it gets to me," Liz told him. "But I think that's only normal, isn't it?"

"Yea, I guess."

"And you've been having fun trying to give me a reason to take a test every month, haven't you?"

JC couldn't help but let a smile form on his lips. "Definitely," he nodded. "Almost three and a half years of marriage and I still can't keep my hands off of you."

Liz smiled. "Then focus on some more on that and a little less on the fact that the result isn't exactly what we want, huh? Because I'm having fun too. We've got time now that you're not so busy to really focus on family."

"We got time, alright," JC rubbed the back of his neck. "Lots time."

"Well, a lot of time depending on when you guys are gonna get back into the studio again."

"And God alone knows when that's gonna happen."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know, Liz," JC shook his head.

Liz could have sworn she heard JC say ‘Ask Justin' under his breath but she decided against asking his to repeat.

"Is there something I'm missing here?" she asked.

JC took a seat on one of the chairs they had on the balcony area and extended his arm toward her, signalling for Liz to come sit on his lap.

She obliged and looped an arm around his neck. She looked at him with an expectant look, silently urging him to get out what she knew he was holding back.

Liz let a few moments go by as JC slowly ran his hand up and down her thigh, through her jeans, in thought. With the exception of the wind chime dangling above them, the place was quiet and JC's absent thoughts seemed to silence everything in his surroundings, including Liz.

"During the tour," JC began, finally. "This was about a month after you left, by the way."

"Mhm."

"I remember it was a little while before the show started, and Justin and I were like, peeking out from behind the curtains and we were looking out at all the people and the stage and the lights and, I mean, the place was huge!"

Liz smiled and ran her fingers through the hairs on the back of his head as JC obviously started to become a little happier talking about the memory.

"And then," he continued. "We just looked at each other and I remember us saying, ‘Dude, it's never gonna get bigger than this. We did it. We did everything we wanted to do when we started this thing and then some. There's fifty thousand people out there who came to see us perform.' And, I don't know. I just got to thinking that after that moment was over, I realized that it's never gonna get bigger than that. We're never gonna top what we already accomplished."

"You feel like there's nowhere to go but downhill, is what you're saying."

"Exactly," JC nodded. "And there was this other night a couple weeks ago, J and I were chilling in the hotel and he started talking to me about these ideas he had and all these visions he had of himself and all these tunes he wanted to go into the recording studio and get out..."

"For *NSYNC?" Liz asked.

"For when he considers going solo."

Liz raised her eyebrows as JC avoided eye contact with her. "Oh," she said.

"The tracks are really, really good too. They're really... They're tracks that I know people are gonna really enjoy. I mean, it's different, it's Justin, it's great."

"Do the rest of the guys know about him going solo?"

"Yea, that's what we talked about at our last meeting on tour last week. I mean, they're for it. Lance is still trying to get through with that whole ‘going to the moon' thing and Joey's got Kelly and Bri plus he's been doing all that acting stuff and then Chris is just having fun. And then, I'm just..." his voice trailed off.

"Being JC?" Liz offered.

JC leaned his head back against the chair. "I don't know what I'm doing yet."

"Is this a break or something else for *NSYNC?" Liz pursued gently.

"They say we're only on a hiatus but I don't know, honestly. I can't complain about a single thing that the guys and I have done together so I'm grateful for that, but realistically, c'mon. You can only stay on top for so long."

"And you're worried that the *NSYNC light is dimming out, aren't you?"

"We have plans to make another album but I just don't know if it's gonna happen. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Am I supposed to start an acting career now or am I supposed to start making music by myself or am I supposed to just start travelling all over the place or start a family and..." JC stopped and looked at her as she stared back at him patiently, stroking the back of his neck. "I know it sounds dumb."

"It's not dumb, Jace," Liz shook her head. "You're flustered. You're so used to having something to do all the time that you don't know what to do now that things seem to be dying down a bit."

"It's just... We did everything!" JC cried out with a slight laugh. "We did it all. Arena tours, stadium tours, commercials, award shows, merchandising. We did everything that we wanted to do. If that's over, what am I supposed to do now? What's *NSYNC supposed to come to?"

"Josh, do you know what you're supposed to when all your dreams come true?"

"What?"

Liz leaned her forehead against his and let this eyes meet. "You make new ones. Do you honestly think that even after *NSYNC is through, you're gonna have nothing going for you?"

"Do you honestly think that after *NSYNC is through I'm gonna make something else of myself that's gonna distinguish me from those four other guys? We're always gonna be known as *NSYNC. Do you know how hard it might be for someone to see past that?"

"So use it to your advantage. You know a lot of people, do something about it. Babe, what you're not seeing is that you don't even know if this is the end. And even if it is, there's so much more for you to do out there. With a break, you can do whatever you want, you know?"

"It's not the same."

"Things can't always stay the same."

"Yea..."

"Look at me for a minute," Liz said, and JC obliged.  "I want you to know that you, stubborn husband of mine, are the most talented person I know. But I don't care if you're singing on stage at Madison Square Garden or at the Staples Centre in front of ninety thousand screaming people or just singing the alphabet on stage at a pub downtown in front of nineteen drunk people."

JC chuckled. "Singing the alphabet at the pub doesn't pay the bills."

"Listen to me," Liz told him firmly. "It doesn't matter to me whether you're on the cover of Seventeen Magazine or just on the cover of a family album with me. What does matter to me is that you know that I'm proud of you and that you have so much going for you and you don't even know it. According to Justin, you guys have seen the insides of more arenas than your average basketball player and that's true. You can do something totally different now. Find something that motivates you or just appreciate the time you have now for yourself and do something with it."

JC smiled. "Since when did you get so confident?"

Liz smiled, finally leaning back against him. "I've always been confident in your talents. I've just never had a reason to assure you of them before."

"Nothing's going on but I feel like everything's so overwhelming, you know? I want to keep going forward with a new album but I don't want to be known as ‘that guy from *NSYNC' forever."

"There's always acting," Liz suggested. "And there's always solo work. There's always producing and managing. There's always song writing too. You can make a name for yourself doing any of that kind of stuff."

"That's business wise. I'll always be known as JC Chasez in this business."

"But you'll always be known as Josh, to meee," Liz teased.

"And with the free time, I can possibly be known as ‘daddy' too," JC reminded her.

Liz grinned. "That's something I'd support you one hundred percent in, without a doubt."

"It'll happen for us," JC nodded. "I'm sure of that, now."

"I think so too," Liz agreed. "I think there's a plan for everyone."

"And a family is definitely in our plan," JC said. "I promise you, before anything else, I will make that happen for you- for us."

"Thank you. And don't think that you don't have anything else going for you. *NSYNC is what it is and should be accepted and appreciated for what it is. Don't compare everything you do on the side to what you did in the group. It takes the fun out of everything."

JC chuckled lightly. "Thank you, baby. Really, thank you. Thank you for supporting me, no matter what."

"As long as you do the same for me when the doctor reads out the results to the tests as to what's going on with us."

JC lifted her hand and kissed it. "I promise you that I'll be right there, next to you, regardless of whatever those results read."

Liz smiled and nodded. "Good."

"Do you really think that I'm not just gonna be remembered for being in some teen pop group?"

"That teen pop still is pretty damn successful so I don't know why being remembered for it would be such a bad thing."

"No, I mean, like... You think I could do something different?" JC asked. "In terms of music or the entertainment business. You think I can contribute something different, when, you know, the time's right?"

"I really do."

"Okay," JC concluded. "I feel motivated now. C'mon, let's get outta here so-"

"Oh, before we get up, can I, uh, ask you a question?" Liz asked.

 "What is it?"JC asked.

"Do you know how long we've been married?" Liz started.

JC looked at her, puzzled. "Mhm. Over three years now."

"And in that time,*NSYNC completed a stadium and arena tour."

"That's correct."

"And you're on a break, and you say we can focus on having kids now?"

"Yessss, Liz," JC chuckled. "Babe, what're you getting at?"

 "I just want to know if this is where you think this is where the line stops. If, as a couple, this is how it all ends at the end of the day."

"You're wondering if this is where our relationship stops? With a marriage and kids and then that's it?"

Liz nodded.

JC grinned and held the side of her neck, dipping her down for a lengthy kiss.

"My career is a little spread out at the moment, but there is one thing I can tell you and be sure about."

"And what's that?" Liz asked.

"Where our relationship is concerned," JC told her. "We're only halfway there."