Blue Siofra (blue_siofra) wrote in butterfly_fics, @ 2008-12-30 02:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !-all fics, *rating: pg-13, +length: novella, -fandom: nsync, =the melody of life, ^jc/melody, jc chasez, melody beam (ofc) |
The Melody of Life (6/7)
Title: The Melody of Life (6/7)
Author: blue_siofra
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Jc Chasez/Ofc, Lance Bass, rest of *N Sync
Summary: Jc meets a woman and his life changes dramatically.
Chapter 51
“Are you ready?” Jack asked me.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I said. Jack took my arm and we got into the line that was out of sight from everyone. Cassie stood before me, a beautiful vision in a pink dress. I had made her my maid of honor. My other bridesmaids were Heather and Kelly. I heard the music start and we watched as one of Josh’s second cousins started down the aisle. Then Kelly and Heather went. Then Cassie went. Finally, when they were in place, the wedding march started and all mine and Josh’s family, along with our closest friends stood up. Jack escorted me down the aisle.
Josh looked really handsome in his tuxedo. His best man was TJ, and his ushers were Joey and Lance. Chris and Justin were sitting in the second row on his side. When Jack and I had made it up to Josh, Jack handed me over. Josh helped me up to my place, right in front of the officiant. I handed my bouquet to Cassie, and let Josh take both of my hands.
The ceremony started with words about what a marriage is. Josh and I just stared into each other’s eyes, knowing that this day was the beginning of a new chapter of our lives. We finally got to the vows. I started them off.
“So many times, I thought I held it in my hands, but just like grains of sand, love slipped through my fingers. And so many nights, I asked the Lord above, please make me lucky enough to find a love that lingers. Something keeps telling me that you could be my answered prayer. You must be heaven sent I swear. ‘Cause something happens when you look at me I forget to speak. Something happens when you kiss my mouth my knees get so weak. Could it be true this is what God has meant for me, ‘cause baby, I can’t believe that something like you could happen to me.”
“Girl in your eyes, I feel your fire burn, all your secrets I will learn, even if it takes forever. With you by my side, I can do anything. I don’t care what tomorrow brings, as long as we’re together. My heart is telling me that you could be my meant to be. I know it more each time we touch. ‘Cause something happens when you look at me, I forget to speak. Something happens when you kiss my mouth my knees get so weak. Could it be true this is what God has meant for me, ‘cause baby, I can’t believe that something like you could happen to me.”
Then came the rings.
“With this ring, I wed thee, Joshua Scott Chasez. I promise to love, to cherish, to have and to hold, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” I slipped on Josh’s new platinum ring band. Josh got ready to do his vows.
“With this ring, I wed thee, Melody Elissa Beam. I promise to love, to cherish, to have and to hold, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” Josh put my ring on my finger. It was beautiful. It was a pink heart stone with three small diamonds on either side of it.
Finally, the officiant pronounced us husband and wife. Josh smiled when it came time for our first kiss as a married couple. He leaned down and kissed me on the lips. I reached for more, and it ended up being one of the sweetest kisses we’ve ever shared. When we finished, we gazed into each other’s eyes. We were married! We turned to the assembled crowd.
“May I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Scott Chasez.”
Chapter 52
Josh and I got walked down the aisle and to the beach not too far from where we were. We were going to let everyone else head to the reception first, and then arrive by limo. I took my shoes off and pulled up the hem of my dress and stepped into the lapping water. Josh took his shoes off and pulled up his pant legs and joined me. We stood there for a moment, looking out at sea together.
“You never told me why you chose this place for our wedding.” Josh said after a few moments. I turn to face him.
“Remember that day when we came here to eat lunch?” I asked him. Josh thought for a moment.
“Yeah.” he said, kind of slow.
“It was the first time Arabella moved. I remember how much more real everything seemed that day, and I wanted our wedding to reflect those feelings. Everything seems brand new when I’m with you. I love you.” I said. Josh took my hand.
“I love you too, my sweet Melody. You are the music of my life.” he said. We stood there for a few more minutes and then headed to the limo. The ride to the reception seems to speed by. I look at my new ring, thinking of what it meant. I kissed Josh before we got out of the limo.
“What was that for?” he asked me.
“Just to show you how much I love you, Mr. Chasez.” I said. Josh smiles.
“I love you too, Mrs. Chasez.” he says back.
I had the great idea a few months before that instead of a normal book for the guests to sign, we would put a bunch of Cds out that had mixes of love songs on them, and the guests would pick one out and sign a message on them. It seemed to be a big hit, we got many comments on the idea. I didn’t feel like ending up with some food I didn’t want, so we had a buffet dinner featuring a lot of our favorite foods, there was a lot of Chinese food and a huge dessert buffet. I had insisted on no alcohol, so we had coffee, tea and pop to drink.
When the dinner part was finally over, it came time to dance. I was waiting for the DJ to put on the song Josh and I had chosen to dance to first. Instead of a recorded disk of it though, I heard it come on live. I turned to see Lance, Chris, Joey and Justin on stage with a keyboardist, a guitarist and someone with a harmonica. They started the song, and the DJ announced the dance for Josh and I. The guys started singing our song, which was one of theirs anyways. Josh smiled as we took the dance floor, and started to dance. When his part of the song came on, he sang it softly into my ear. By the end of the song, I had tears running down my face. I never expected that to happen. I looked at Josh when it was over and the DJ started playing recorded songs.
“You are completely amazing. I never saw that coming. I love you.” I said, resting my head on his shoulder. Josh kissed the top of my head.
Later that evening, I stood up at the mike and surprised Josh. I had talked Lance into singing what will be Josh’s part, and I got up there and sang the song that I had written from his poem to him. Josh loved it.
Near midnight, Josh and I left to start our two week long honeymoon. I had thrown my bouquet, and Cassie had caught it. Josh had done the garter thing, but he found it hilarious that I had taken it off before he got to it. He found it in my shoe. When he had thrown it, Joey was the one that had caught it. In the limo on the way to the airport, Josh looked at me.
“I can’t believe it. We’re married. I love you so much, Mel.” he said. I looked over at him.
“I can’t believe it either. I love you too, Josh.”
Chapter 53
When Josh and I reached our destination, I went into the bathroom and took off my strapless gown and put on some lingerie. I took out the few bobby pins that were in my hair and sauntered out into the room where Josh was standing by the bed. I took a good look at what he was wearing and started to laugh.
“Where did you get those?” I asked him. He was wearing a pair of boxers that had pictures of a ball and chain on them.
“Joey. Where else?” he said.
“And you still wore them?” I said laughing. Josh shrugged his shoulders sheepishly.
I walked up to him and pressed myself against him. I kissed him and he returned the feelings. We lost ourselves to the feelings of love and desire. It felt a bit weird to be making love with Josh for the first time in such a long time, but it also felt so special at the same time.
The night flew by and we enjoyed our first days as a married couple to the fullest. We lounged around and enjoyed each other’s company, and just relaxed.
I woke up first on his birthday. I lied there watching him sleep, thinking of how far we had come in the past year. We had found out that I was pregnant, gotten engaged, I had given birth to our now four month old daughter, and we had gotten married. Josh stirred a bit and I closed the distance between us and kissed his nose.
“Happy birthday sweetie. Love you.” I whispered to him. Josh opened his eyes.
“I turn 27 today.” He said.
“Yep.” I said and leaned back in and kissed him. Pretty soon we were making our own fun when breakfast arrived. I answered the door in my robe and we realized how hungry we were so we ate quickly and then returned to our fun. Around lunchtime, we put on our bathing suits and went to the beach for a swim. We spent the afternoon there entertaining ourselves both on the beach and in the water. When the beach bored us, we went back to the hotel to shower all the sand off. Who knew that burying each other would put sand in the oddest places? When we were dressed, we headed to a restaurant for dinner.
“Mel?” Josh asked after the waiter had taken our orders.
“Yes?”
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I want to make a solo album. Justin’s was a big hit, and I realized recently that I have all this music inside me, why don’t I let it out?”
“Oh, Josh! That’s great! You know I’ve been working on mine, so we could work on them together!” I said. Our food arrived. We ate in silence for a few moments.
“I really think I’ve matured a lot since Illusions came out. I feel so inspired right now too.” he said, breaking the silence.
“Oh honey, that’s fabulous! I love you.” I said.
“I love you too, my Melody.”
We finished our dinner, and I handed him his presents from Arabella and me. He loved them. The rest of our honeymoon seemed to fly by twice as fast as it did before his birthday.
Chapter 54
When Josh and I got home, Mom came over with Arabella and Amanda. Arabella seemed to have grown so much in the past two weeks.
“Did you guys have a nice time?” Mom asked as I unpacked my suitcase. I smiled to myself, thinking of the memories.
“Yes Mom, we had a great time. It was very relaxing.” I said. Mom looked at me.
“I can’t believe that my little girl is married. Your father would have been proud of you.” she said with tears in her eyes. I looked at her.
“Mom, I’m sure he was. Just like he’s proud of Jack and Cindy adopting Ethan.” I said. Ethan’s adoption was finalized the week before. I hadn’t seen him yet, but I had a feeling that I already knew what he looked like.
“Oh Melody, you’ll love Ethan! He’s such a cutie. He looked familiar to me though for some reason.” Mom pulled out a picture and showed it to me. I looked at the toddler in the picture and sucked in a breath.
“I know why he looks familiar, Mom.” I said. I went over to my mirror and pulled down a picture. I handed the pictures to Mom. She looked from one to the other.
“Oh my. Oh my! How long have you known this?” she looked up at me.
“I had a feeling about it ever since Jack told me that they were adopting. Cassie knows nothing about it yet. I didn’t say anything about it until I was sure about it. Now I’m sure.” I started to laugh. My new nephew was my best friend’s unwanted child. Mom and I talked until Bella told us she was hungry. Mom left, probably to go over to Jack’s and talk to him.
Josh came out of the bathroom with his hair still wet.
“I feel much better. There’s nothing like taking a shower at home.” he said. He came over and kissed my forehead, hitting me in the face with wet hair.
“Eeewww! Back up!” I said, pushing him away.
Josh backed up and pouted. Then he picked up Bella and snuggled her.
“Mommy doesn’t like getting her face wet. Looks like it’s just the two of us.” he said, and started to dance around with her and sing. By the time he finished singing the song, she was asleep.
“She’s her daddy’s girl.” I said when Josh came back from putting her in her crib. Josh sat down next to me on the couch. He wrapped his arms around me and placed his chin on top of my head, keeping his wet hair out of my face.
“Do you realize that it’s been almost eight months since you proposed to me here?” I ask him.
“Mmm. I feel the same way for you now as I did that night.” he said.
* * *
“I’ll be in the studio if you need me.” Josh says before his head disappears into the studio. I look at the clock. It was almost dinnertime. I knew that he’d be locked in there for hours before he came out, and I wasn’t going to bother him for something as trivial as dinner. I sat at the kitchen table and ate dinner by myself. By the time Josh finished, I was asleep in bed.
Chapter 55
As my album was almost ready and Josh had just started his, I had more time with Arabella. I started to feel a bit lonely when Josh would lock himself in the studio for hours on end. I took to hanging out with the guys more, especially Lance, since we had a lot of business stuff to take care of. He was over at the house a lot.
“How come Stacy hasn’t had any kids yet? You’re such a great uncle to Bella.” I said to him one day while Arabella was napping and I was doing the dishes.
“I don’t know.” Lance said, with a note of finality in his voice.
“Well, how about you? Any plans at all?” I ask.
“I want my own kids, but only when I meet the right one.” he said, placing the clean dishes in the cupboard.
“Any prospects yet?” I asked innocently. Of all the guys, Lance is the only one who hasn’t had a girlfriend the entire time I’ve known him.
“Well, there is this one, but she‘s unattainable.” he said.
“Really? Do I know her?” I ask, turning to face him.
“You just might.” Lance said as he walked over to me. He looked into my eyes and then leans down and places a gentile kiss on my cheek. He straightens up and looks into my eyes for another minute. Then he turns and says he had to go and leaves.
Still in shock, I reach up and touch where he kissed me. The realization hits me. Lance was in love with me. It was unbelievable. I was still standing in the same position when Josh came into the kitchen.
“Mel, are you alright? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
Shocked out of my shock by the sound of his voice, I spin around and continue the dishes. I hear Josh sigh and walk across the room. I hear the fridge door open and close, and then footsteps back out. I finish the dishes and head upstairs and check on my daughter. Seeing that she was still asleep, I head to our bedroom. I start crying as I lock the door and sit on my side of the bed. I suddenly felt all alone. I’ve been married a bit more than a month, and my husband seems to be in a parallel universe, and on top of that, one of his best friends was in love with me. I just sit there and let the tears come.
Hours later, I hear a knocking on the door.
“What?” I called through the door.
“Mel, honey, what’s wrong?” Josh’s voice comes through the door. I dry my tears and open the door.
“Nothing’s wrong. What do you want?” I ask.
“I wanted to make sure you were alright, and I want you to hear something.” he takes my hand and leads me to the studio.
Chapter 56
I listened to the song Josh played, but before he finished, I was running back up to our room in fresh tears.
“Poor Josh,” I thought, “He has no clue that our entire world has crumbled into pieces today.” I shut the door to our room. It wasn’t long before I heard the knock I was expecting.
“Melody, what’s wrong? I thought you had work to do today with Lance.” at the sound of Lance’s name, I started up with more sobbing. Josh must have heard it through the door because he started to plead with me to let him in. He finally gave up and it was quiet on the other side of the door.
At some point, there was more knocking on the door.
“Melody, what’s wrong, sweetie?” Mom called through the door. I heard Josh and Mom talking muffled on the other side of the door. I get up and open the door. Mom and Josh come walking in. I sit back down on the bed, and they sat on either side of me.
“Mel, I know something is bothering you. Are you pregnant?” Josh asked me. I shook my head no and started with more tears. Mom stroked my hand.
When I managed to stop crying so hard, I asked to be alone with Mom. Josh got up and left, closing the door. I leaned up against Mom and she stroked my hair.
“He really loves you Melody.” Mom said, thinking that was what I needed to hear.
“I know Mom. So does Lance.” I managed to say. Mom stopped stroking my hair.
“What makes you say that?” she asked me.
“Because he kissed me today. He didn’t say it, but the look in his eyes said it all. Lance is in love with me.” I started crying all over again.
“Well, honey, I hope he doesn’t, but I think you should tell Josh all the same.” Mom said. I knew she was right. I took a few more minutes and then stood up. I left our room and went to find my husband. I found him in Arabella’s room.
“I think we need to talk.” I said looking down at him sitting in the rocking chair. He looked up at me.
“I think so too.” he said. I took a breath and told him how I had been feeling, and what had happened today in the kitchen, finishing with how I felt about Josh.
Chapter 57
“He did WHAT?!?” Josh exploded.
“You heard me. You also promised not to get mad either.” I said.
“I’M NOT MAD, I’M FURIOUS!” Josh yelled. Over on her blanket on the floor, Arabella let out a cry.
“Honey, you’re scaring our daughter.” I say quietly.
“WELL, IT’S THAT BASTARD’S FAULT!!”
“Joshua Scott Chasez, don’t you ever swear in front of our daughter again.” I say, going over and picking her up. I try to comfort her as I face Josh.
“What are you going to do about it?” I ask him.
“I’m going to tell him to stay the hell away from my wife and daughter. He’s nothing but Mississippi trash as far as I’m concerned.”
“Josh, I don’t want you to end up in jail for assault or worse. Don’t lay a hand on him. Do you hear me?”
“Why shouldn’t I? Do you love him?” He asked. My head jerks back like I’ve just been slapped.
“No I don’t. How could you even think that I would? Don’t you trust me?” I ask.
“I saw the look on your face earlier.” he said.
“I was still shocked at what happened. What else would I be?” I asked. I turned and headed out of Bella’s room.
“I’ll be at my mother’s if you come to your senses.” I said as I left.
“Hi Mom. I need to stay here for a while. Do you mind?” I ask when Mom answers the door.
“Didn’t go well, did it?” Mom asked.
“No, it didn’t.”
Mom took Arabella from me and I sunk into the couch, holding back tears.
“Josh wants to kill Lance, and when I told him not to, he accused me of being in love with him. What am I going to do?” I said. I lied down on the couch and sobbed myself to sleep. I awoke later to the sound of knocking on the front door. I got up and found a note from Mom saying that she went shopping. I answered the door to find Lance standing there. He had a black eye starting around his right eye.
“I think we need to talk.” he said.
“About what?” I asked.
“About Jc, you, me and who I really love.” he said. I open the door and let him in.
“You shouldn’t be here.” I said. Lance pointed to his eye.
“I think I got that point.”
Chapter 58
“I can’t believe it. I jumped to conclusions. But I was so sure by the way you had acted. I’m sorry my husband gave you a black eye. I’ve never seen him so mad before. I thought he was going to kill you.” I said to Lance.
“Melody, It’s ok. Remember the day I came by your house and I told you how much he loved you? Now you’ve seen it for yourself.” he says, and gives a short laugh.
Mom comes in the front door with Bella and some groceries. She raises one eyebrow when she sees Lance sitting next to me. Lance jumps up and takes the groceries from her hand. I get up and take Bella. Lance put the groceries on the kitchen counter and then excuses himself and leaves.
“It’s ok Mom.” I say when she turns to me. I start putting the groceries away as Mom sits down.
“What was all that about, sweetie?” she asks me. I turn to her.
“Lance realized that he had met the girl of his dreams last month, and it’s someone I know really well. He’s not in love with me.” I was about to tell her who it was, but there was a knock on the door. Mom got up and answered it. She came back in, followed by Josh.
“What the hell was that bastard doing here earlier? I was going to come back and tell you that you could come back home when I saw his car in the driveway.”
“You know what? I told you to not lay a hand on him, and he has a black eye. I did something you obviously can’t do when you’re mad. I listened to him. If you had listened to him, you wouldn’t have punched him.”
“Why not?” Josh wanted to know.
“He’s not in love with me, Josh. He’s in love with Cassie.” I told him.
Josh did a double take.
“What?” he said.
“He had met Cassie a long time ago, and he realized at our wedding that he was falling in love with her. That’s why he’s been over so much. He’s been hoping Cassie comes by.” I said.
“Then why did he kiss you?” Josh wanted to know.
“Because I’m the one that introduced him to the love of his life. He wanted to thank me, but he didn’t know how, and he did the wrong thing, that’s all.” I said. Josh sat down next to Mom as he absorbed all this.
“So I punched him for no reason. I told him to stay away from you for no reason.” He muttered. He looked up at me.
“Will you come back home tonight?” he asked me. I looked at him.
“Josh, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I could live with you right now, knowing you beat up my boss. I’ve been feeling like you’ve been ignoring me since we came back from our honeymoon and you started on your album.” I turned away from him.
“I won’t come home until Lance’s black eye is gone.” I said, tears welling up in my eyes.
Chapter 59
Time seemed to speed by. Lance thought the whole situation was funny, in a morbid sense. He had to stop by so Josh could see his eye. Lance had to see me everyday because we had the last minute stuff on my new album to do.
The day before Baby Blues was released, Lance’s eye was completely healed. I packed up my stuff and headed home to surprise Josh. I pulled into our driveway and walked into the house. I was the one in for a surprise. Josh was on the couch with none other than Cassie! It looked as though they were having an intimate moment, with Cassie curled up and Josh hugging her. As the master of good timing, Arabella decided to give out a coo as she recognized her daddy. Josh and Cassie both looked up at me.
“Josh? Why?” I managed to ask as my eyes filled up with tears. I turned back around and headed back to my car. I strapped Bella back in and got in the driver’s seat and started the car and drove away. I drove around, not paying any attention to where I was going until I found myself parking and getting out of the car with Arabella. I placed Bella on the picnic table and sat on the bench, angling myself so that I could see a certain gazebo with a backdrop of ocean.
Has it really been only two months since I stood on that gazebo and promised that I would love and cherish Josh for the rest of my life? He had promised the same thing. I looked down at my wedding ring. I was going to take it off when I heard a voice calling my name. Arabella looks toward the origin of the voice and bursts out into a smile. I soon hear Josh right behind me.
“Melody. Please let me explain.” he puts his hand on my shoulder.
“You realize this is where we were when Arabella first moved?” I asked him. Josh came around me and sat on the bench facing me.
“Let me start this by saying that you are my meant to be. You are the fire of my heart. I love you. Cassie came by this morning looking for you. Her parents have finally kicked her out once and for all. I guess her boyfriend upset them and now they want nothing to do with her. She felt like there was nowhere else to go. I felt like the least I could do was let her cry.” he said, looking into my face.
“Josh, I want to believe you so much.” I said when he finished.
“Then do, because it’s the truth.” Cassie said from behind me.
Chapter 60
I put the finishing touches on my makeup. I was wearing a baby blue knee length dress.
“Are you ready up there yet? We’re going to be late to your release party.” Josh called up to me.
“I’m coming!” I called as I headed out towards him. Josh was standing at the front door with Cassie.
“Didn’t you wear that to your album shoot today?” I asked him. He was wearing his beat up old boots, a pair of beat up and embezzled tan pants, a white shirt and his black double zipper jacket.
“I just got home. Come on, let’s go.” we headed over to the party.
Just like the last time, there were posters of my album cover all over the place. Josh, having been busy with his album, didn’t know what I had named mine, or see the cover for it. I was quite proud of the cover. I had taken a close up picture of my eyes, and one of Josh’s eyes. The cover was a perfect blend of our eyes. It was my right eye and Josh’s left eye. It was kind of eerie. I heard Cassie suck in a breath.
“Did you have the eye color changed to do that?” she asked me. I smiled.
“No, that is our natural eye colors.” they were a perfect match. I looked at Josh to see what his reaction was. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it.
“It almost looks like we’re looking at Bella’s face.” He said when he noticed me looking at him.
“No, there are slight differences. There’s a close up of her eyes in the booklet.” I said, looking at him. He looked at me.
“Really?” he asked. I nodded.
Lance chose that moment to swoop in on us.
“Hi Melody. What up, Jc? Who is this lovely vision?” He asked us. Although he already knew who it was, Lance and Cassie had never met formally. Cassie looked a bit taken by him.
“Lance, this is Cassie. Cassie this is -” I started.
“Lance Bass, right?” Cassie finished, offering Lance her hand.
“Yeah. I work with Melody and Jc.” he said.
“I saw you at their wedding.” Cassie said.
“So did I.” Lance said, with the edge of hidden meaning in his voice.
Josh and I left Lance and Cassie to talk. Maybe they would hit it off. Josh and I had fun at the party, but headed home early. Cassie had stopped by and said that Lance was going to bring her to my mother’s house, where she was staying. Josh and I lied in bed that night talking. The next thing I knew it was morning, and Josh was snoring in my ear, his arms still around me. I got up and headed over to Mom’s to pick up Bella. Mom opened the door before I could get my key in the hole.
“Oh, it’s only you Melody.” she said. She had a worried look on her face.
“What’s wrong, Mom?” I asked her.
“Cassie didn’t make it back last night.” She said.
“But she was with Lance last night. He wouldn’t do anything wrong.” I said.
“That’s what worries me. Lance didn’t make it home either.”