[chapter eighteen]

(The next morning)

Caitlin's eyes popped open at the insistent ringing of the phone next to her bed. Cringing slightly, she rolled away from the warmth and comfort of JC's sleeping form and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" She said groggily.

"Hey babe. What's up?" Jon's animated voice chirped through the receiver.

Caitlin flopped back onto her pillow and closed her eyes again. "I hate you."

"Having a good morning, are we?" Jon teased. "What's up?"

"What time is it?" Caitlin asked, unable to see her clock over JC's sleeping body.

"A little before 10. Don't you work today?" Jon asked.

"Why are you calling me?" Caitlin said grumpily. "You woke me up from a delicious dream and perhaps the best sleep I've had in months. Why?"

"Two reasons. One, I wanted to see if you would do me a favor. Can you pick up my dress blues and bring them to the base? Turns out I need to meet with a general today, and since I was pressing my blues the other night, I left them at the house. Please Bird?" Jon asked.

"When do you need them?" Caitlin asked.

"Um. Now?" Jon said in a tiny voice.

"What was the second reason you called me?" Caitlin asked.

"Oh. Wanted to see if you survived the storm last night. Sorry none of us were around to keep you company. I take it you survived?" Jon asked.

"Yeah, it's amazing how much less scary a storm is when you have a pop star in bed with you." Caitlin said, trying to suppress a grin. "I'll be by the base within the hour, ok?"

"Whoa! Wait! What?? JC is there? In your bed? NOW?" Jon squeaked. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"You don't get a vote. Since you weren't here, I called JC and he came over and we proceeded to have raunchy sex in every room of the house. Ok?" Caitlin said in a serious voice, that didn't give away her teasing of her best friend. "See you in an hour."

"Bird! Wait! You and JC..." Jon yelled into the phone as Caitlin hung it up with a laugh.

"Serves him right." She said to herself. She laid for a moment with a smirk on her face, imaging Jon going into "overprotective older brother type mode" over her supposed exploits.

"Raunchy sex, huh?" JC asked, his eyes still closed but a smile playing on his lips.

Caitlin looked over at his still face and smiled again. "Sorry the phone woke you." She apologized.

"Actually, the bed got cold when you moved, so that's what woke me up." JC replied with a sexy smile.

Caitlin smiled and JC opened his eyes. "Mm. I'd like to see that when I wake up every day." He murmured.

"What? My bed head?" Caitlin said with a grin as she pushed her hair back.

"Your smiling face." JC replied in all seriousness. After looking at each other for a moment, JC broke the silence. "So, what did Jon need?"

"I have to run his dress uniform out to him at the base, then I have to get to work. I can't believe I slept this late!" Caitlin said, sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Sleeping is one of my greatest pleasures in life, and sleeping in just makes it that much better." JC said, yawning. "You work until eight tonight?"

"Yep. Are you going to be at the Compound today?" Caitlin asked, crawling out of bed and throwing open her closet.

"No, we are actually going to be at Jive, using some of their sound rooms. If you aren't too tired after work, why don't you stop by and hang out with us for a bit?" JC asked.

"Sounds like a plan." Caitlin said with a smile. For a moment, she reeled from the knowledge that JC Chasez, 1/5th of *Nsync, was lying in her bed. Then, the thought flipped to the fact that JC, just a boy she had met and gotten to know, was lying in her bed. She liked that vision better, so she stuck with it as she picked out some clothes to wear for the day. "I'm going to grab a quick shower then head out. Do you want some breakfast or anything?"

"You shower, I'll do breakfast." JC offered. "I'm also going to fire up your dryer."

"Good deal. Back in a minute." Caitlin replied, stepping into her bathroom.

Less than 20 minutes later, Caitlin emerged from her bathroom, showered and fully-dressed. She noted that JC had made her bed and, after pulling on her boots, she headed downstairs. She smelled coffee as she neared the kitchen, and smiled when she rounded the corner. Despite JC's lack of culinary skill, he had found bagels and cream cheese and had managed to put a pot of coffee on. "I'm very impressed. Breakfast from a neophyte chef." Caitlin teased, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"I'm learning." JC said with a smile. He was back in his own clothes, which were dry thanks to the powerful dryer. He had run his hands through his hair to try and tame it, and even though his jacket was soaked, he wouldn't be needing it that day. He took in the sight of Caitlin. She was wearing a long, dark-leopard printed skirt with a black sweater. She had on knee-height black boots, and was wearing no makeup save some shiny lip-gloss. She looked classy and sexy at the same time. Even though her clothes fully covered her, JC could see a sexiness from her--her curves were emphasized, and the boots made her seem a bit...dangerous. "That doesn't look very...librarian-like." He ventured.

"Why not?" Caitlin said with a teasing smile. "Because I don't have on half-glasses and a bun in my hair?"

"No, because it makes you look all curvy and sexy." JC said, looking directly into her eyes.

Caitlin blushed slightly and lowered her eyes from his. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." JC returned. "You ready to get out of here, after a bagel and some coffee?"

"Yeah, I better boogie so I can get to the base and then to work on time. Thanks again for breakfast, and for last night." Caitlin said, almost shyly, grabbing a bagel to go.

"My pleasure. So, you'll try and stop by Jive tonight after work? Maybe we can have a late dinner or something. And I'm sure the guys would like to say hi." JC said. "Just ask at the front desk to find out where we are. I'll let the desk attendant know to expect you."

"Sounds great. See you tonight." Caitlin said as she shrugged on her leather coat and grabbed her keys. "Walk me out?"

(Just past 8pm, that evening)

Caitlin walked into the enormous office building that housed Jive records and stepped up to the front receptionist. "Hi, my name is Caitlin Peck. I'm here to see JC Chasez?"

"Hi Caitlin. I'm Julie. JC told me you'd be stopping by. Let me take you upstairs." The woman replied with a kind smile. She had a very motherly feel about her, and Caitlin liked her instantly.

She followed Julie to the elevators, and they made small talk about the weather and the upcoming holidays. They stepped off the elevator onto the 8th floor and turned right down a long corridor. Towards the end of the hall, Caitlin could hear playback music and singing voices. With a smile, Julie pointed to one of the doors. "This leads to the control booth--I believe JC is inside." She said.

"Thank you Julie. It was nice meeting you." Caitlin replied with a smile.

"And you as well. I hope to see you again." Julie said as she walked towards the elevator.

Caitlin gingerly opened the door and slid inside. JC's back was facing her, and he was sitting in front of an enormous soundboard. In the booth in front of him, Joey and Justin were harmonizing. Lance and Chris were sitting off to the side, having what appeared to be a quiet conversation. JC spoke into the mike in front of him, "Ok, guys, from the top."

Caitlin saw Justin notice her, and quickly put her fingers to her lips to convey that she didn't want JC to know she was there. Justin nodded imperceptibly and began singing a few seconds later. Caitlin slowly walked up behind JC, then leaned down and wrapped her arms around his chest, just below his neck. She whispered huskily in his ear, "Hey baby, wanna go for a ride?"

JC jumped at her contact, but quickly recovered. When he heard her sexy voice in his ear, he flushed immediately. He could see Justin and Joey laugh at the start Caitlin had given him, so he flipped them the finger then signaled them to stop singing. "With you? Anytime." JC replied, swinging the chair around to look up at her.

Caitlin straightened and smiled down at him. "You're pretty cute when you're working." She teased.

"I'll bet." JC returned. Caitlin turned to the glass and waved at the other four, who promptly waved back with smiles. Chris began pantomiming to JC and Caitlin. From the bizarre movements he was making, and then the way he grabbed Justin, they inferred that Chris wanted see them kiss. To tease him, Caitlin leaned over and lightly kissed JC's cheek. Chris rolled his eyes in exasperation, and then began the charades all over again. JC laughed, then grabbed Caitlin around the waist and spun her towards him. With a small wink, he grabbed her waist then crushed his lips onto hers. She immediately responded by wrapping her arms around him and deepening the kiss. Moments later, JC started to crouch down towards the floor, dragging Caitlin with him. With one swift move, he fell to the floor, bringing Caitlin down with him, though they continued to kiss. Caitlin immediately started laughing when she heard banging on the glass from the booth next door. "You love to tease them, don't you?" She asked JC breathlessly.

"Every chance I get. That should satisfy the voyeur in all of them for a minute or two. Did I hurt you when we fell?" JC asked, struggling to sit up.

Caitlin righted herself as well, and shook her head with a grin. "Not a bit."

They stood up again, and made a big production of straightening their clothes and wiping their 'sweaty brows'. Chris feigned a heart attack, and the other three just laughed at their antics. JC took Caitlin's hand and led her from the sound booth to the recording room next door where the guys were.

"Hey guys!" Caitlin greeted them as they walked through the door.

"Hey! You're lookin' foxy today." Joey said with a leer.

"Always." She replied with a wink. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"Just JC's train of thought. You should have seen his face when you snuck up behind him! Priceless!" Justin said, laughing. Everyone found his laughter infectious, except JC, who was trying to keep on a serious and disapproving look, with little success.

"How was work today honey?" Chris asked. "Get to look anything up in the card catalog?"

Caitlin threw him a dirty look. "Actually, I conducted a usability study on a website about online trading, read a report about disaster planning for libraries, sat through two interviews to hire some interns, and helped answer about 50 reference questions. Oh, and I did some HTML coding to update our library website. What did you do today?" She rattled off.

"Um. Sang a little. Ate lunch." Chris thought for a moment. "That's about it."

Caitlin merely smirked in response. Everyone laughed at her reaction, and she quickly broke into a fit of giggles herself. "Tough day." She said with mock sympathy.

"You are a regular spitfire, you know that?" Lance said admiringly. "No one can make Chris meek."

Caitlin smiled her thanks at the praise. "What else is new with you guys?"

"We're in the process of making some big internet deal, and we have to meet with a bunch of new people that Jive has hired in a week or two. We just got our schedules for the next few weeks, and after the Billboards, we're on our own for the holidays, which is nice." Lance answered, ever the businessman.

"That will be nice, I bet." Caitlin said. "Give you a chance to catch up on your sleep!"

"We'll try, anyway." Justin said. "What's new with you?"

"Nothing much. The Love Shackers and me are trying to figure out our holiday plans. We may go back to Michigan sometime in the New Year, but not for Christmas. Alex, Jon and Scout want to visit some old buddies from the base up there." Caitlin replied.

"Oh really?" Justin said, raising one eyebrow. "Like who?"

Caitlin paused. "Well, probably no one you know." She said with a grin.

"I don't think you should visit anyone on the base." Justin said.

"Justin. shut the hell up." JC commanded, his voice low.

"Why not?" Caitlin asked, confused.

"Justin..." JC said, his voice warning, when he saw Justin open his mouth.

The penny dropped and Caitlin turned to JC, her eyes blazing. "You told them, didn't you?" She asked, her voice dangerously quiet.

chapter nineteen