"Good morning, beautiful lady!"

She turned her head at the familiar, distant voice that rang in her ears, broad smile forming on her face. "Why, Justin Timberlake," she drawled, batting her eyes, "what brings your sweet little behind to these parts?"

"Well," he said, his own Tennessee twang heavily dripping as he continued their joking back and forth, "I heard this little lady had been sick and had to go for surgery and I thought, 'I should go down and visit her and bring her my Mama's sweet tea and peach cobbler that she loves so much. So, seven days and ten hours later, here I am." He tipped his imaginary hat, stepping down off the landing and into the living area where she was nestled in the corner of the couch, fleece blanket wrapped around her and a pillow propped underneath her feet.

Her ears perked up at the sweets his mother was infamous for, searching for his right hand that had been hiding behind his back. "Please, tell me you brought it!"

"Only for you, darlin'," he smiled, lifting up his hand that held a large brown bag, hearing the liquid swish around in the jug next to the cobbler. "You know Mama doesn't make it for just anybody."

"I knew I dated JC for a reason," she murmured, taking the bag from him and inhaling as she opened the bag, the peach invading her senses quickly. "Peach cobbler, how I've missed you ..."

"I'm sure you didn't just date him to get my mom's food," he chuckled, sitting down on the couch and watching as she leaned forward, taking her empty glass and pouring some tea into it, sipping it with a content smile on her face. "I mean, there was more to your relationship than the tea and cobbler, right?"

She nodded, a slow smile forming on her face. "Lots of sex. Amazing sex."

"Argh," he laughed, shaking his head, "I don't know whether to be proud of JC or disgusted that you had sex with someone I grew up with and it's like hearing about my own big brother and little sister's sex life ... with each other."

"Mmm, incestual," she chuckled, setting the tea back onto the table with the cobbler as she leaned back, head up against the back of the couch. "So really, what brings you all the way out to California when you were in Cincinatti filming?"

"Well," he said, drawing out the last syllable, "we had a six day break and Jess is in New York visiting friends, so I figured why shouldn't I be able to come visit one of my friends?"

She raised an eyebrow. "J, you just came to see me a few months ago."

"All right, so ... JC told me you were up and down with emotions and told me it'd be nice for me to drop by. And, by my own will, I decided to come now rather than later. It's always nice to see you again."

"Yeah, yeah," she chuckled, "you just felt sorry for my depressed ass."

"As hard as it is to believe, Aud, for those six years you and C were together, you were very much a big part of our lives - of my life. And, when you lose something that once was a constant, permanent imprint in your life, it feels weird to have that vacancy. I may not be the greatest at keeping in touch, but I know when someone close to me needs me. JC needed me back then, you need me now.

She scoffed, smirking as he raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't need your scrawny ass. Whoever came up with that idea needs to be put on some looney medicine. I don't need anybody."

"We all need somebody sometimes."

"So who let you in?"

"Your brother. He was just leaving when I pulled in so he unlocked the door and told me you'd be in here watching Discovery Health. Who knew you were so into stories about the ER and baby stories?"

"It's a guilty pleasure," she admitted, shrugging as she turned her attention back to the screen where a doctor was speaking about the woman who had been mauled while riding her mountain bike on a trail with a friend of hers by a mountain lion. "Keeps my mind off of my ailment and on theirs."

"You don't have an ailment," he said, shaking his head. "You had a problem. You figure it out, it gets fixed. Look at your brother; there are no signs of him having an ailment and he almost died on the operating table, too."

"I know."

"I don't know why you're trying to feel sorry for yourself," he frowned, shaking his head and stealing a sip of her tea, "God gave you the gift of life 29 years ago and again a few weeks ago. You were made to be on this earth until the day He decides to take you from it. Not some problem with your heart. You are living, breathing the air that all of the living are breathing, smelling the same flowers we're all smelling. He kept you here because there is something on this earth you are meant to do and you haven't done it yet. I have faith that you're going to be around for a long, long time. Causing problems with us all, making and raising babies, living happily ever after. There's no one else I know that deserves it more than you do. I'm not going to give you the long, long lecture like AJ did or even JC, because you know you were meant to be here. You're just losing faith in yourself. I know this depression isn't about this heart thing. Not all of it, anyway."

She turned her head without a response, letting the silence take over as she watched the doctors then work on a boy with sudden paralysis. Justin was leaning backward on the couch, head tilted to the side to see the television screen, though she wasn't sure that it was the tv he was looking at. She felt his eyes burning into her skin, she trying her best to ignore it as she replayed what he had said back in her head.

He was right; she didn't need to let her worry about her heart take her into a depression. They repaired the problem, and even though she'd have to go get her heart checked more often than not, she could live life without worrying about it, unless something worse came along. She was blessed with life, though it was almost taken from her, and she needed to embrace that it wasn't. She needed every single person she had in her life right now, just as he had said. But why did JC?

Finally, that thought would not die off as she swallowed hard, preparing herself. "J," she asked softly after the show cut to the last commercial before the ending, eyes still glued to the screen, afraid of what he'd say, "why did JC need you?"

She felt his eyes on her as he turned his attention away from the set, eyes settling on the side of her face. "Because he didn't have you anymore," he said softly, not missing a beat between her words and his. "Because he didn't have you to go home to. Because he lost the one thing he had for so long that made him feel alive that he suddenly felt like he had no purpose. Because he knew letting go of you was the worst thing he had ever decided to do in his entire life and he had to live with the regret and he didn't know how. Because I was the only one who understood why he was so afraid and didn't threaten to disown him because of what he brought himself to do between the two of you. Because I," he stopped for a moment, voice becoming faint, "I was the only one who held onto the faith that you two would get back together someday. While everyone was telling him he had lost you for good, I held onto the knowledge that you were helplessly in love with him, as he was to you. I know him better than he knows himself. I know things about him you probably don't even know yet ... but you will. I know you will."

"Like how he bought an engagement ring and then chickened out before giving it to me?"

"He never told me, but I knew. I found it the day he bought it; tucked in his suitcase that he was packing for our yearly trip to the Bahamas. I needed his organizer to add a radio interview for the day after we got back and it was underneath it. Before he could even notice I found it, I put the ring and organizer back and walked away, asking him to get it for me while I finished up in his studio. One of the unspoken things I knew about him that he didn't know I knew about."

"Like what," she asked, reaching for the remote and turning off the television, her full attention on him. When he sat there, silent with a look of anxiety on his face, she only wanted to know more. "Justin, please."

He ran a hand through his short hair, sighing deeply. "I swear, if you let this all slip that I told you; that I even know, I'm going to personally come back and cut all your hair off while you're sleeping." He watched as she nodded, turning her body to fully face him. "The day he left you, he came to my house. Not my L.A. house, but my house in Tennessee. He drove to the airport after he walked out your door and stood in front of mine. Cameron answered the door and he had these ... sunglasses on and a baseball cap tugged real low on his face and when I heard her concerned voice call for me, I knew something was wrong. That, and it was eleven o'clock at night and he was standing on my doorstep, looking as if a Mack truck ran his face over numerous times."

"He asked to talk to me, and I could just tell he was upset. Cam went upstairs while he and I went down to my studio. As soon as I turned on the lights and he stepped onto the landing, I saw him breakdown. I didn't even get to ask him what was wrong and I saw him crumble to the floor. He had his hands over his face and he kept saying over and over that he just ruined his life, that he screwed up so bad and I could only think, 'Oh, God, he cheated on her ...' but when he pulled his hands away from his face, I knew it was worse than that. He cried so hard, Rina. He knew he messed up; he knew he made a mistake. He had it in his mind that he wasn't ready for something that we all knew he was ready for, even if we teased him about it. And I know now that our teasing was part of his chickening out with the engagement ring. I wish it wasn't, because I only wanted him to be happy with you, because that was all he ever was; even on the bad days when the two of you were fighting. He loved every side of you, even the angry side. You were the only woman he was ever with that never pushed him for marriage, for babies; never trapped him into almost being a father without him knowing until it was almost too late - the only one he knew wanted both things so bad, but never, ever pressured him. That was when he saw himself marrying you, being a father. And then he let his mind run and he let his feet take him running, too."

"J," she said, he shaking his head to stop her as he lifted a hand, "please -"

"He still loves you, Audrina," he said softly, eyes burning into hers. "He loves you probably just as much, if not more than he did before. And it kills him to see you with someone who is giving you the same thing he has given and could be giving you right now. AJ is a great guy, who treats you great, but I'm JC's friend first. I want you two to be together so bad that it nearly hurts for me. He has never loved someone like he loves you. I don't think you realize just how much he hates himself for leaving like he did. I know that if he could turn back time and fix it, he would. If he would have listened to himself and not let what we teased him about get in the way, you'd be wearing his ring, and not some ring that AJ thought would cheer you up."

"I know he loves me," she frowned, looking down at her fingers, "he told me at the hospital after I asked him about it."

"And do you?"

She looked at Justin, confused. "Do I, what?"

"Do you still love him?"

She opened her mouth to speak, unsure if she wanted to divulge any answer to anybody at the moment. "J -"

"Hey, you home?!"

She felt her stomach calm with relief as she pulled her blanket off of her legs, scrambling to greet the voice that was nearing. "Drea!"

"Hey, honey," she smiled as she wrapped her arms around her friend, hugging her tightly. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better," she said, "still slightly emotional, but I guess it comes with the territory."

"They should put you on medication for that," she said softly, pulling away and smoothing her hair against her face. "Just until you let your own body rejuvenate and your mind energizes again. I don't need you thinking the way you did -"

"J's here," she said, breaking off the subject before it got too serious, taking her friend's hand and leading her into the living room. "J, you remember Aundrea, right?"

"Of course," he smiled, getting up and greeting her in a slight hug. "It's good to see you again."

"You too," she smiled, both women watching as he grabbed his keys from the table, Audrina looking at him quizzically. "I'm going to go see what JC's up to. I told him I'd drop by after I swung by here. Besides, two women and me are probably not a good mixture," he said, grinning. "Audrina, just remember what I said, all right?"

She nodded. "I will. Thank you. And thank you for the tea and cobbler, too."

He smiled. "Anytime, mami; anytime." He placed a kiss to the side of her head before excusing himself to leave, the room silent until the gentle click of her front door was heard.

"And what do you have to remember?"

She turned to look at Aundrea, sighing deeply. "All this stuff about JC. It's really ... not something I want to dive into right now."

"Fine by me," Aundrea said, shrugging as she gave her a wide grin. "I brought movies. Lots of movies." She held up her purse, DVD's spilling out over the top as Audrina laughed slightly. "You sure you don't want to talk about it," she asked, seeing that the laugh soon disappeared, only to be taken over by a bothered look. "I mean, you don't have to get all into it, even a general idea is still talking about it."

Audrina nodded, sitting down and pulling the blanket back over her body. "The general idea is what got me into this mess in the first place."

"That one," Audrina said, pointing to the lyrics that were on the top, "is the one I started writing just before he found me and called the ambulance. And that one," she pointed to lyrics scattered below it, "is what I've been playing with for the last week."

"It's very evident who these are about," she said, closing the notebook to let her friend have the rest of her lyrics to herself until she figured them out. "So ...."

Audrina shrugged, taking the notebook and setting it down next to the tea. "So, I'm in love with him. Kind of hard to stop loving him when he just up and left."

"That would have made me not love him anymore."

"I thought so, too. But apparently, that's just not in my cards. I don't want to hurt AJ; I don't want to just throw it out that I'm in love with he and JC - but JC a little more. He's been so good to me and has been my rock ever since I got out of the hospital, but I can't help what I feel ..."

"I think if you let it, your heart will answer for you," Aundrea said softly, "you've just got to listen."

Audrina sat back, closing her eyes and listening to her friend as she rummaged through her purse for a movie, trying so hard to listen to her heart, to hear the answer without it being said aloud. It was difficult, listening to the one thing that got her in the predicament in the first place. "I don't know why I'm trying to figure it out, Aundrea," she said, opening her eyes and sighing deeply. "He may love me, but he still doesn't want the life I want."

"Well, then, I think you have your answer."

"Yeah," she said softly, shaking her head. "It's worthless waiting around for that when I've already got the life I've always wanted. He'd have to prove himself in order for me to even think about it again."

"You drive your own fate, Audrina; life just gives you a little push. You decide what happens. Don't let a silly feeling of not wanting to hurt someone get in your way. You've put everyone ahead of yourself ever since I can even remember. It's time for you to take care of yourself. Regardless of the consequences."

"You're right," she said softly. "I just hope I can figure out what it is I want more before it's too late." When Aundrea looked at her weirdly, she continued. "Do I want to be content with a husband and kids? Or do I want to be deliriously happy living with my boyfriend who doesn't want to be my husband or give me kids?"

"I think ... either way, you'd be unhappy. You want the kids and the husband, but you want JC to be the husband. This is just one call you've got to handle, Drine. I can't help you."

"I know," she said, sighing deeply. "I don't even think I can help myself."