JC got to experience what it was like to try to get a moody toddler to sleep that night. After the two were finally able to be alone downstairs JC pulled Salina over to the couch and plopped down with his head on her shoulder.
“I now understand why married couples always say they’re too tired to have sex.” He said groaning.
Salina chuckled and blushed. “Think about how people with twins or triplets must feel.”
“Oh man, that must be horrible.”
“Yeah, well, the happy moments outweigh the tiring ones by far.”
“Like what?” he asked sitting up and turning to her.
“Watching her take her first steps, say mama for the first time…stuff like that.’
JC smiled as he watched the happy glow in her eyes grow. He lifted his hand to cup her cheek. “I love that look you get when you talk about Vanessa.”
She smiled and leaned in to kiss him. JC quickly responded to the kiss and traced her bottom lip seeking entrance which she granted. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap so that she was straddling him. She moaned into his mouth, but when she felt his hands sliding under her shirt she pulled away and rested her head on his chest, both breathing heavily.
“I’m sorry.” He said hugging her to him.
“Don’t apologize. I’m so attracted to you and if this was two years ago we’d definitely be going at it right now, but I can’t just be frivolous with my life anymore. I’m a mom.”
“I know. I know and we’ll go as slow as you need to. I promise.” He said staring her straight in the eyes.
She smiled at him before laying her head on his shoulder. They sat like that for a few minutes, her arms wrapped around his neck and his hands rubbed her back.
“Will you sing to me?” she asked him.
He smiled and she felt him smirk. “No.”
“Come on. I answered the phone.” She complained making him laugh.
“I have to sing all day tomorrow, come on, babe.” He reasoned.
She smiled at him calling her ‘babe’. “Next time?”
“We’ll see.”
“You know you have to go to New York for TRL on Friday, right?” she asked.
He nodded. “Are you coming with me?”
She shook her head. “I can’t. My family’s coming out to spend Christmas here.”
“Do I get to meet them?”
“You’re already meeting the folks?” she asked leaning back to look at him and sliding off his lap to sit beside him.
JC didn’t answer her question. “When do they get here?”
“Tomorrow.’
“Do you have to pick them up?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I can drive you. We’ll take my Navigator.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. You can’t take them all in your car.’
“Not everyone’s coming. Just my mom, my dad and two of my brothers.”
“Well, what time do we need to leave for the airport tomorrow?”
“By 12:30.”
“Okay, I’ll pick you up from WEG.” He said sealing the agreement with a kiss.
She smiled goofily and started to stand up but he pulled her back down. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I still have work to finish, so I need to go plus I have to work in the morning so I have to get up early, Mr.-sleep-in-til-12.” She smirked.
“Very funny.” He said and sighed. “Okay, wait here and I’ll go get the baby.”
Salina relaxed back into the couch and waited for JC to appear with her daughter. A few minutes later she heard footsteps and turned to see JC carrying Vanessa, who was wrapped up in a blanket, and the diaper bag down the stairs.
Salina stood to meet him and took the diaper bag from him before leading him out the front door and to her car. After she unlocked it JC leaned in and buckled the sleeping child in and Salina put the bag on the front seat. JC walked her around to the driver’s seat and opened the door for her.
“Be careful.” He said. “And call me when you get home.”
She nodded and pulled his head down to kiss him one more time before she left. When they pulled away they were both breathless and Salina slowly got in her car. JC closed the door and walked to the front door as he watched her pull away.
*********************************************************
Salina’s eyebrows furrowed as she watched the five men on the television in her office goof off and joke. When the camera focused on her boyfriend she raised her eyebrows at the short hair he had back when the video came out. She was almost about to laugh at Chris’ braids when there was a knock on her door. She looked at the clock on her computer and realized that it was probably JC coming to pick her up.
“Come in!” She called as she turned her attention back to the screen so that she could quickly finish watching the video before she had to leave.
JC frowned as he walked toward her. “What are you….oh no! Turn it off, babe!” He yelled covering his face.
Salina laughed. “I can’t I need to watch it so I can learn more about you guys.”
“Well, trust me you’re not going to learn a whole lot from...” He picked up the box and read it. “NSync In the Mix that you don’t know already.”
“No, you’re different now. All of you.” She said standing up and walking over to switch off the television before walking to him. “You have big hair now.” She joked fluffing his hair with her hands then wrapping her arms around his neck.
He pouted. “Aww…I thought you like my hair.”
“I do.” She said running her fingers through it and standing on her toes to kiss him.
JC looked at his watch. “We need to get going. Where’s Nessa?” He asked looking around the office.
“She’s at day care.” Salina said stepping away from him to pull on her sweater and leading him out of the office.
“Day Care?”
”Yeah. She can’t keep coming with me to work everyday.”
“Why not? She was the only reason I came to see you.” He said opening the car door for her.
“Haha.” She dryly stated and waited for him to climb into the driver’s seat. “She needed to be around other kids anyway. Being around adults all the time isn’t healthy for her.” She sighed looking out the window.
“Aww…is mommy missing her baby?” Salina turned to him with tears glazing her eyes and nodded pathetically. JC chuckled and grabbed her hand pulling it to rest on his thigh. “I’m sorry, sweetie, I didn’t mean to make you cry. I’m sure it’ll get easier for you. She’s not grown yet, babe.”
She smiled at him and changed the subject. “Are you nervous about meeting my family?”
JC shook his head. “Naw. Parents love me.”
Salina smiled and raised her eyebrows but decided not to say anything.
When they arrived at the airport they headed for the baggage claim where they were to meet her parents. After waiting about 15 minutes for them, Salina spotted her mother leading the group toward them. As soon as Salina had seen them she threw her purse to JC and took off towards the group and launched herself onto her brother though JC wasn’t sure which one it was. He smiled at the family all gathering around his girlfriend as he began walking towards them.
“Mama!” Salina smiled as she hugged her mother tightly. “I missed you.”
“Y mi tambien, mi hija.” Just then her mother noticed JC standing by watching them. “And this must be...uh…Joshua?”
”Oh, yeah. You guys, this is my boyfriend, Josh.” She said to her family while smiling at JC. “JC this is my mom, my dad, my brother Robert and my brother Juan.”
“It’s nice to meet you all.” JC smiled, but his smile wavered as the only one who smiled back at him was Salina’s mother.
Salina stifled her laugh as she led the group over to where the bags were beginning to come out. JC, Robert and her father lifted all the bags off of the conveyor belt.
“You didn’t tell me he was a gringo.” Juan whispered.
Salina frowned at Juan and raised her eyebrows. “Does it matter?”
“Not to me.” Juan said with an amused smile on his face as he motioned for her to look to where JC was unsuccessfully trying to make conversation with her father.
She smiled back at her brother and pulled him toward the exit. “Come on.”
Once they were in the car, the conversation seemed to halt, so Juan and Robert thought they would spark up something.
“So, Josh, where are you from?”
JC looked at Juan from the rearview mirror before answering to be sure that Salina’s brother was actually speaking to him. “Uh…I’m from Maryland originally, but I’ve lived here in Orlando since I was 13.”
“And how old are you now?”
“I’m 28.”
Salina locked eyes with JC and rolled her eyes. “Josh, is in the group that I’m doing publicity for.”
“He’s your boss?!” Robert asked. “Dude, that’s gotta be great!” He said hitting JC on the shoulder lightly.
JC chuckled lightly into his hand as he continued to drive.
“Por favor, Roberto, leave him alone!” Salina turned to face her brother with a stern expression.
“English or Spanish….not both.” Her father spoke for the first time.
“Sorry. Anyway, Josh, we need to go pick up Vanessa.” She spoke softly as her family broke into their own conversations.
“Ok, how do I get there?”
“Get off on 31st and make a right onto Olympic.”
“Okay.” He said merging into the right-hand lane. As he was getting off the freeway he subtly reached over, grabbed Salina’s hand and lifted it to his lips before setting both their hands between them on the center console.
Well, JC thought it was subtle, but Salina’s mother had seen the whole thing and was now smiling slightly at the two even though she knew what her husband was going to say to her as soon as they were in privacy.
When JC pulled into the day care center, Salina turned around and spoke to her family. “Ok, JC and I are going to go in and get Vanessa. You guys,
decide where you want to go to dinner okay?”
“No vamos a salir para la cena, yo cocinaremos.” Her father responded.
“Daddy, I don’t have food at my apartment for you to cook.”
“Then we can stop at the grocery store. Unless, of course, Joshua minds stopping by the store.”
“No, I”“ JC started but Salina interrupted him.
“Papa, él es famoso. No puede ir a un mercado.”
“Well, he does not have to go. He can drop us off and we can go.”
“He’s staying for dinner. I already asked him to.”
“Eso está muy bien. Juan, Roberto, JC y Vanessa permanecerá casero y tu, su madre y yo vayamos a hacer compras.”
Salina rolled her eyes and looked at a very confused JC. “Come on.” She said before getting out of the car. JC followed her lead and held the door to the day care center open for her as they walked inside.
“Why’d you do that?” Maria asked.
“What?” Marco asked.
“You made her mad. The least you could do is try to be nice to her boyfriend.”
“Yeah, dad, he seems like a nice guy.” Juan offered
“He’s a gringo.” Marco grunted.
“So that makes him a terrible person? You are going to be nice to him whether you like it or not.” She told him with a stern voice. “And from now on, no Spanish around Joshua unless you’re planning on translating for him. The poor boy looked confused.” She sympathized.
Her husband gave her a weird look. “Why are you rooting for him so much?”
Maria pointed out the window at the couple who were now exiting the building with Salina’s daughter. JC holding the door open for Salina with one arm as he held Vanessa in his arm with the other. “Because look at how much they care for each other.”
Salina opened the door and handed Vanessa to her mother so that she could spend sometime with her grandparents during the car ride home and hopefully take some attention off of JC and herself.
“Here, mi hija, look abuela and abuelo.” She cooed at her daughter before closing the door and getting in the front seat beside JC, she turned to her dad before he could speak. “I know, English or Spanish.” She said before turning back and giving JC a nod.
“Ok, here we go.” JC said backing out of the parking space and heading towards WEG so that they could pick up Salina’s car before they headed back to Salina’s apartment. Salina, her mother and father all rode in her car while JC sat with her brothers and daughters. When he pulled into the extra space that came with Salina’s apartment that he had gotten used to parking in the entire family unloaded the car and carried their luggage upstairs to Salina’s apartment.
“Ok, mom, dad, you’re staying in my room. Juan, Rob, you’re on the couch and I’ll sleep in Vanessa’s room.” Salina directed everyone to their sleeping areas. “You guys can put your stuff in Vanessa or my room, it doesn’t matter.” She said to her brothers.
“What are you gonna sleep on in Nessa’s room?” Her mother asked.
“Oh, JC has an air mattress thingy, he’s gonna bring over for me later.”
Marco grunted as he hauled his wife and his bags off towards Salina’s room. “What? What did I say now?” Salina looked toward her mother.
“I bet he thought you meant JC was staying with you here. Both of you on the air mattress.”
“NO!” JC quickly stepped in. “No, no, no…That’s not what she meant. Go tell him that’s not what you meant.” He said to Salina.
“Joshua, calm down. I’ll go talk to him. Then he and I will go shopping for dinner. Do you mind if we take Vanessa with us?” Maria asked.
Salina sighed. “No, just don’t buy her anything sweet especially if she reaches for it.” Salina’s mother nodded and left the room. Salina looked into her living room where her brothers had already placed themselves in front of the television with Vanessa. “What was that you said about parents loving you?” She smirked at JC who made a face at her.
“They usually do, your dad’s a tough one to crack.” He said before sitting down in her large overstuffed chair and pulling her down to sit on his lap. “So what were you arguing about in the car?”
“Huh?” She was confused. He’d been in the car at the same time she was.
“I don’t speak Spanish.”
”Oh.” She laughed. “Sorry, I argue better in Spanish than in English, so I always fight with him in Spanish. Anyway, I just told him that you’re famous and you can’t go to the store. So he said that you could drop us off and we’d go, but I reminded him that you are staying for dinner. And he decided that my parents and I would go shopping, but I realized that that won’t work either.”
“Why not?” He said resting his head on her shoulder.
She looked at him seriously. “Because leaving you with my brothers is almost as bad as leaving you with my father.”
“Oh my god, we’re seeing other people.” He said rolling his eyes.
Salina laughed. “I wouldn’t blame you.”
He looked at her. “You’re too good to give up though.” He said before leaning in to kiss her, but just then her parents walked in and he almost dumped her on the floor he stood up so fast.
Maria gave him a knowing smile as she walked over and picked up Vanessa. “Well, we’re gonna go to the store. Where’s the closest one, mi hija?”
Salina gave her parents the directions to the store and the keys to her car and they left shortly after that with Vanessa in tow. As soon as they were gone Salina took the opportunity to drag her boyfriend to her room to be alone with him for at least five seconds.
Once the door was closed, Salina pounced on him and dragged him towards the bed while kissing him feverishly.
“Salina”wait”Salina.” He said between kisses.
“What?” She asked exasperated.
“Your two older brothers are right down the hall. And it’s not a very long hall.”
“So?”
“SO? I know if some guy I’d just met went into a closed bedroom with my sister, I’d be pissed.”
“They don’t care.” Salina shook her head and pulled him back down on top of her. When JC stopped her again she sighed and gave up. “Just one last kiss?” She asked pathetically.
He smiled and gave in to her and gave a very quick peck on the lips then jumped up and headed for the door.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s so not what I meant.” She said yanking the door open and stomping down the hall to sit in the living room with her siblings.
Robert looked at his watch. “Well, that was quick.” He said causing Juan to laugh and JC to blush, but Salina didn’t answer and instead took the pillow from behind her and smacked her brother upside the head with it.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Story Tags: boyfriendjc jc justin hospital tabloids joey chris lance solojc
