The shrill ring of the phone, along with the buzzing noise as it vibrated against the table, startled JC out of his restless slumber. He groaned when he saw the green lights flash 3:31 a.m.

"This better be fucking good," he mumbled as he blindly reached for his phone. "Yeah?" His voice was deep and gravelly. 

"Jace? I'm so sorry." His heart dropped at the unsure, shaky sound of her voice and he sighed.

"Baby, you have nothing to be sorry about."

"I do!" she interjected. "I shouldn't have hung up on you."

He reached for his glasses and adjusted himself into a more comfortable position, crawling deeper under the blankets. "I'm just glad you called back. Even if it is," he paused, "5:30 in the morning in Minnesota. What the hell are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep. Felt bad."

"Han, you have every right to be angry with me."

"That's just it. I'm not angry with you, I'm angry at the situation. I know it's not your fault."

"Thanks, Hannah. I feel awful."

"I know you do. But now you'll just have to make it up to me." Her voice was laced with flirtation and she paused, before speaking up again softly. "I went through a lot of trouble to get someone to watch the bar for me. Twice."

"Come out here," he urged suddenly.

"What?"

"It's 5:30! Go to the airport and get on the next flight out here. You can be here in a few hours!"

"JC, I can't."

"Why? You already have someone to watch the bar, and I don't film again until Wednesday! That gives us five days!" He said excitedly. 

"JC, no."

"You say you're not mad but you won't come see me?"

"Not on a whim at 3:30 in the morning when you're telling me to get to the airport immediately. And really I can't. I made other plans for the weekend."

"What are you doing?"

"Mallory and I are going to drive to Winnipeg, go shopping and bask in Canadian culture."

JC tried to hold down a chuckle, but he snorted anyway. "Winnipeg?"

"Quit laughing. It's fun."

"Both of you get on that plane and come to LA. You can go shopping here." He could hear Hannah sigh and sense her growing frustration.

"JC, I'm sorry. I made plans. I'm not going to change them. Mal and I are going to Winnipeg. I know its not glamorous or exciting like LA," she emphasized, "but we like it. I'm sorry that when my boyfriend canceled our trip at the last minute I made new plans. I'm not changing them to accommodate your schedule!"

"I thought you weren't mad?" he whispered.

"Well I wasn't until you started laughing at the plans I made with my cousin and demanding I change them."

"I wasn't demanding, I was suggesting."

"Well it certainly didn't feel that way." They sat in an awkward silence. "Look JC, it's late and we're clearly both tired and crabby. I just wanted to call and apologize, not get into another fight," she said sadly. "Let's jus take a few days off. I'll take my trip with Mal, you shoot your show, and we'll talk Thursday. Maybe we can work something out for the following week."

He ran a hand over his stubbled cheek and sighed deeply. "Han, you know I'm really sorry."

"I know you are.""I don't want to fight with you."

"It's inevitable, JC. It's a miracle we made it two months without fighting, especially given the circumstances."

"Our first fight."

"I guess so."

"Call me Thursday, OK?"

"I will, JC. Break a leg."

"Drive safe."

"I promise I will. I make no guarantees for Mal. She's kind of a crazy woman. Get some sleep. I love you."

"Still?"

"Still."

-----------

JC lowered the bill of his hat and slid lower into his chair as he sat by the baggage claim waiting for Hannah. It was Friday afternoon, and after an arduous conversation yesterday in which they fought again, he had finally convinced her to come visit. JC wanted her to stay for the entire week, but she would only agree to three days because she didn't want to ask her people to cover for her again. He didn't really see what the problem was when she had already booked someone for when they would be in Florida, but she would only agree to stay Friday through Monday morning. She kept repeating "if you want to see me for a week you are going to have to come to me." Technically he had the time, but things were heating up with the label, and if anything happened he wanted to be able to meet with them on a moment's notice.

At the end of the conversation she had sighed dejectedly and just said, "fine, I'll be there." He wasn't sure how she was going to react to seeing him, but he just knew he needed to get on her good side again. After all, today was her birthday and he was determined to show her how much he meant to her, even though they couldn't seem to get along lately.

His fears were calmed momentarily when he heard a husky voice from behind. "Mmm, you look so hot in that fucking hat. Best gift you've ever recevied in my opinion." Her hands slid over his shoulders and gave a slight squeeze before she leaned forward and ran her hands over his chest. He looked up over his shoulder and couldn't hold back a goofy grin when she smiled at him from above. She adjusted the bill of his hat slightly and kissed him long and hard, much more affectionate than he ever got in public. Thankfully the Twins cap threw off whatever paparazzi might be lurking around LAX.

He quickly stood and pulled her into his arms. He squeezed her as hard as he could, and just held her as people rushed around them looking for their baggage and rides. He didn't care that they were in the middle of one of the country's busiest airports - right now he just wanted to hold her and try to make up for all of the arguing they had done the last week.

"Let's get out of here, ok?" Her voice still had that husky tone and JC couldn't wait to get her home. He didn't even have time to respond before she grabbed her bag off of the carousel and started pulling him toward the parking garage. When they reached his silver convertible, he tossed her the keys.

"Happy birthday, baby. Now drive us home." It didn't go unnoticed by either of them that he referenced his house as their home.

She grinned and eagerly climbed in the drivers' seat while JC tossed her bag in the back.He could tell that she was estatic to be driving his convertible. He remembered the last time she visited him and how they spent nearly three hours just driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, her relishing at the warm spring wind in her hair. He loved that she was so enthralled with the things that seemed so normal to him. As she cruised down the highway he couldn't help but chuckle at her carefree demeanor. "God I love you," he blurted out as she started singing along to a song on the radio. He almost missed his next direction as they grinned at each other but he quickly yelped, "Take a right! You need to get on the 10!"

Forty five minutes later they finally pulled through JC's gate, and she pulled the convertible into the garage. She barely was able to thank him for letting her drive before he was practically on top of her, the center console digging into this torso. His hands were everywhere - her hair, her breasts, between her legs. He couldn't get enough of her, and the way she was responding, he was fairly confident the feeling was mutual.

"Let's go in the house first, huh?" she laughed and worked her way out the door.

Before the knew it they were on his bed, Hannah on her knees, JC behind her with a fist tangled in her hair, pulling her head back toward him to expose more of her neck as he licked and sucked at her pulse points. His thrusts were frantic, as were hers. It was rough, and messy, and primal- and perfect. They were trying to make up for every mistake both of them had made in the past week.

They fell into a sweaty heap when they finished and both let out contented sighs.

"That may have been the best make-up sex I've ever had," Hannah gushed while snuggling against JC.

"Who said that was the make-up sex? Could have been the birthday sex or the I-missed-you sex."

"Mmm, no, that was definitely the make-up sex. But I still have those other rounds coming to me? Can't wait!"

"You didn't tell me how Canada was," he asked, changing the topic.

"We had a blast. Just went shopping, went to bars at night, Mal had a weekend fling with a minor league hockey player."

"Uh oh, don't tell Ty."

Hannah laughed and nuzzled him. "I won't. It was just for fun anyway, she's ga-ga over Ty."

"Really? I think the feeling is mutual."

"Well she hasn't said so, but every other sentence is 'Tyler said this, Tyler did that.' It's pretty obvious." Hannah paused. "How was the shoot?"

"Once Vanessa finally made it, it went really well. One of my better acting gigs if I may brag a bit."

"I've never seen you act. Well, not recently. How can I forget that crying gem from the MMC? I'll have to get back on YouTube one of these days and check some stuff out."

"Don't you dare." JC tickled her ribs and shifted so he was on top of her. He continued his attack mercilessly and she giggled uncontrollably. Tickling eventually turned to caressing, caressing to kissing.

"Is this the birthday round?" Hannah managed to say between kisses.

"No, this is the I-missed-you round. The birthday round comes later."

 -----

"I can't believe you did all of this for me," Hannah gushed when she saw the flowers, candles and balloons that adorned the dining room. There was even a birthday cake complete with 30 candles sitting on the buffet.

"I'm having a small birthday party for you tonight if you don't mind," he said shyly.

"You are?"

"Yeah, Tyler will be here and Tony is coming over."

"Tony!" Hannah exclaimed. "Did you guys make up?"

"I didn't tell you?" He racked his brain trying to remember.

"No." Her disappointed look and tone did not go unnoticed.

"Yeah, right before the camping trip. We're not great yet, but better. I'm sorry, I thought I told you." JC could tell Hannah was biting back an snippy response.

"Well I'm looking forward to meeting him. This cake looks amazing," she said changing the subject.

"It's from my favorite bakery. The frosting is amazing." JC couldn't help but chuckle as Hannah slid her finger around the base of the cake in the back, so no one would notice.

"Mmm, fantastic," she said with a grin.

"Take a seat, I need to give you your gift before everyone arrives."

Hannah walked into the living room and took a seat on the leather sofa, while JC gathered her gifts. He presented her with one small box, and one box so large, she couldn't hide her confusion.

"Small one first."

Hannah quickly tore open the wrapping paper to find a picture frame which held a snapshot of them sleeping in the hammock at the cabin.

"Where did you get this?"

"Ty took it one afternoon, I guess. I didn't even realize we'd fallen asleep."

"Ha, me either. Look, the book is still open. Oh man, we must have been out cold."

"Well we had a busy night the night before," JC winked at her.

"We did, didn't we! That was a great night. OK, what's the next one?" She exclaimed excitedly.

"Come on down and open it."

Hannah slid to the floor, opened the large box and gasped in surprise."JC, oh my God. Wow, I'm...I'm speechless." Tears were forming in her eyes and JC couldn't help but give her a beaming smile.

"The one you had was so old, and...I just though you could use a new one."

Hannah picked up the acoustic guitar and placed it delicately in her arms. She strummed a few chords before setting it down and jumping into JC's lap.

"Thank you so much. It's perfect."

He ran his hands idly over her back. "Yeah, you like it?"

"I love it. That ratty old guitar we had at the cabin was one my grandma found at an old garage sale. It's all I ever had to practice on. So this...this means so much to me." She kissed him soundly. "I'm glad I decided to come here this weekend. It's been great having this one-on-one time together. We'll get through this, yeah? I mean, everyone fights sometimes, right?"

"Of course we will, Han." He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could, and took a deep breath, inhaling the coconut scent of her hair.

"So, do I get the birthday sex now or what?" She whispered while rocking against him gently. The door slammed loudly startling them both apart.

"Where's my favorite birthday girl? Let's get this party started!"