Chapter Six Part B

October 20, 2003 - 8 AM

"You've got to be kidding me..."

The next morning found an extremely tired from last night Christina waking up to the uncharacteristically high pitched sounds of her assistant Stacey laughing extremely loudly outside her hotel room's master bedroom.

It better be that funny for her to be that loud this early in the morning.

Seeing as how a second later Stacey's laughter could still be heard vibrating through the room, Christina figured she might as well go and see what was causing the other woman to laugh that loudly--only if it would make her stop so Christina could go back to sleep soon.

"Well, if it isn't sleeping beauty, herself--I wondered what time you'd grace us with your presence this lovely rainy morning."

Without even bothering to cast more than a middle finger up at her bodyguard who was seated at the kitchen table looking to be reading the morning paper while a still giggling Stacey sat beside him, eating her cereal, Christina adverted her attention towards Marshall who was, at the moment, in the process of giving her an amused once over.

"What so funny?"

Before anyone else could answer the question, Marshall quickly replied: "Not to sound like an asshole, but has anyone ever told you that you look like shit in the morning?"

A question which caused, not only Ron to laugh out loud at this, but if possible Stacey to giggle even harder.

"You try hosting an after party until four in the morning, only to wake up four hours later to laughing hyenas all around you, and see if you don't look like shit yourself, Mr. Mathers," Christina opened her mouth to say. But fortunately before she could get the words out, a silent til now Byron opened his mouth getting the attention of the four in front of him. "Hey, leave the poor girl alone. She had a long night last night--unlike you, Marshall, who was already tucked in bed, sucking his thumb by the time she got in around four this morning."

If Christina didn't already find herself growing fond of the slightly burly man seated beside Marshall, those words alone would have won her over.

"I knew there was a reason why I liked you, Byron--as for the rest of ya'll, you guys can kiss my skinny white ass."

While chuckling at Christina's statement, Ron moved some papers off of the the chair to his left that wasn't being occupied so the petite singer could take a seat. "You know you love us, Chrissy--and besides, you can't stay mad for long. Em made breakfast."

Breakfast...? He can cook?

As if reading the woman's mind, Marshall raised another eyebrow in amusement while sarcastically replying: "What? You thought me and Halie survived off of dog-food alone---? I do know my way around the kitchen a little bit--as long as someone provides me with the right utensils to do so; which your very lovely assistant Stacey did so, this morning--"

"Yeah, we figured you deserved a home cooked meal after all of the rehearsing you had to do this week. It was Marshall's idea."

Oh...

Feeling more than a little guilty that just minutes ago she had wanted nothing more than just to shut her assistant up so she could go back to sleep, and now she was being presented a plate of food by Ron--that Marshall had cooked for her, with the help of Stacey, of course--caused Christina to blush a little while she picked up the fork that was placed in front of her and took a small bite of the cheesy omelet that Marshall had made for her.

Oh my god..I think I just died and went to heaven..

Without even bothering to disguise her sounds of approval, Christina quickly asked the older man in front of her where he learned to cook like this while stuffing another mouthful of eggs into her mouth.

"Proof's mom taught me when she found out Kim was pregnant with Hailie--I guess she figured one of us should know how to cook since, the last time I checked, Hailie's mom still can' boil water for shit."

Wow....

Remembering the last time she had thought to bring up Marshall's ex wife--and their, for lack of better words, abusive relationship--Christina had had to pay for it in a diss record by Marshall himself, the younger woman decided against commenting on Kim's cooking skills--or rather lack of cooking skills. Instead she decided just to turn her attention back to the eggs that were in front of her.

"Well, just make sure to tell Proof's mom I said thank you...'cause this is incredible."

Since it was still raining outside and neither one of them felt much like playing in the rain right now, as soon as everyone finished up their breakfast, Christina and Marshall decided to go and check out the gym that the hotel had down by the lobby.

"You want to run on the treadmill or is the elliptical too feminine for you?"

Having made himself get back into the gym after noticing just how out of shape he had become a few weeks ago while visiting Christina out on tour caused Marshall to give himself a silent pat on the back while telling the raven haired singer it didn't matter to him; afterwords following Christina towards the elliptical machines that were seated next to one another.

"You know, Em, this is the first time we've gotten Christina to go to the gym in years without so much as a complaint--we might have to keep you on this tour," Ron joked, while heading towards the treadmills that were located on the opposite side of the room; figuring he might as well run a couple of laps while they were all stuck inside for the day.

"Whatever. I have no problems going to the gym...I just hate working out. Simple as that," Christina retorted back, while sticking out her tongue; causing Ron to roll his eyes sarcastically and Marshall to actually admit to himself that that statement actually made sense to him.

That's one of the reasons why I stopped going.

"Don't look now but I think they're talking about you two on MTV."

Pausing in their movements, Marshall and Christina followed Ron's gaze towards the TV screen that was placed at the corner of the room; broadcasting highlights of last nights EMA's.

On a night filled with such A-list stars as Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Gerard Butler, you'd think that everyone would be too occupied with getting to know who was there to notice who wasn't in attendance. But the one question that seemed to be on everyone's mind was..where was Eminem? The actor slash rapper, who won the award for Best Hip Hop record last night, was nowhere to be found--causing folks to wonder if the new found relationship between him and host of the evening Christina Aguilera has hit a snag. The couple who made their relationship public not even a month ago were seen earlier this month in Las Vegas joined lip to lip, but since then, no one has seen or heard of the two together. Could this be the end of a beautiful relationship or are the two just laying low for the moment...what do you think Sway?

As the camera crew turned their attention to the mentioned VJ, Marshall couldn't help but chuckle slightly at this news. "I couldn't write this stuff even if I tried--"

"Is that why you pay people to do it for you?" Christina asked slyly; causing Marshall to turn a confused eyebrow towards her. "What? You didn't think I'd put two and two together and realize that the reason why that reporter was following us all over Vegas was because you tipped him off as to where we were going to be...? I just want to know one thing.....how much did you pay him?"

Pay him?

For a second Marshall wondered to himself if he should be offended by that question. If anything that reporter Steven--what's his face--should have been paying them for the chance to follow him and Christina around Vegas. But interestingly enough, neither was the case. Steve was just a pawn in the game that Marshall and Christina had created to divert the public's attention from Curtis and Mya.

A fact which Marshall proceeded to remind Christina.

"I aint going to lie, I had one of my boys tip him off as to where we would be staying at and a couple of places we might check out. But I never paid him anything--besides, with him doing all of the running around, trying to get the first scoop as to where we are and what we're doing, it makes our jobs a whole lot easier. All we have to do is be in the same place at the same time and bam, we're on the cover of Star Magazine."

Knowing that was true and that besides the few comments her and Marshall had made at the end of her U.S tour, she hadn't had to comment at all on her relationship with Marshall except for the occasional He's doing well--spending a lot of time with his daughter--comment, which wasn't a lie. She figured that it was a lot easier having a reporter do all of the work instead of her and Marshall having to lie to all of their fans about them.

That didn't mean she had to like the charade that much.

"You think they're any closer to revealing their feelings for one another, especially after our week out there with them?"

Without even bothering to think about it for a second, Marshall honestly replied: "Hell, your guess is as good as mine...remember: your girl holds all the cards in that relationship."

After spending an hour and a half in the gym going from one machine to the next, the two sweaty stars made their way back to Christina's room; both wanting nothing more than a quick shower and a long nap before they headed out to Italy that night for Christina's concert the following evening.

"You can shower first--I need to call home and make sure Proof made sure Hailie went to school today--that girl can talk him out of almost anything."

"I'm sure he's not the only one," Christina joked; pretty sure that whatever Hailie wanted, if she asked for it, she could probably get it from the older man. "I'll be right out though."

Nodding his head at this, Marshall waited until Christina had gone in her room--shutting the door behind her--before picking up his cell-phone and dialing his house phone.

Hailie should be home by now. Going by the time difference, she got out of school hours ago.

As if hearing his thoughts, the phone was answered on the third ring by Hailie, herself. "Daddy?"

"Hey munchkin, how was school today?"

"It was okay. We went on a field trip and Uncle Proof took me to get ice cream afterwords...how's Europe? Did you buy me anything?"

While chuckling at this question, Marshall inwardly asked himself when did he not get his little girl something. She was probably the most spoiled eight year old he knew--but at least she didn't act like it. At least not yet, anyway.

"No baby, I haven't got you anything yet...it's been raining here all day. But I'm going to see if I can find you something tomorrow when we go to Italy, okay?"

"Okay." Halie replied back, before putting the phone on hold after her dad asked to speak to her Uncle Proof for a second.

"Man, you checking up on me already? I told you that I'd make sure she went to school today, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but I know how both you and my daughter are--you bribed her with ice-cream to get her to go to school, didn't you?"

After a short pause was heard on the other end, Proof confessed that he had. "Man, what was I supposed to do? You know I can't say no to her. I still can't believe she played me for some ice-cream, man."

Knowing how his daughter was and that she had probably done just that--having gotten the same treatment from her a few times this month already--caused Marshall to slightly chuckle before asking if anything else had happened while he had been gone.

"Same ole, same ole. How's Europe though? You figure out when you coming back, yet? I know Bizarre and the rest of them are ready to get back in the studio as soon as you come back."

Wondering when Proof was going to ask him about getting back in the studio caused Marshall to slightly pinch the bridge of his nose before saying he'd be back in two weeks. "But make sure the guys are really ready to record there stuff this time. I started putting together a couple of tracks before I left and I want us to be able to show it to Dre by the end of November, all right?"

"All right, cool, I'll let them know. But I have to go..I promised Hailie I'd take her to McDonald's for dinner."

"Proof--" Marshall began.

"I know-I know..that's not a balanced dinner," the other man interjected. "Man, this god-father shit is for the birds. Wait til I have kids! I'm bringing them all to your house every weekend! Have there asses get spoiled by you for a change."

After chuckling slightly at this comment, Marshall told his long time friend he'd hit him up later in the week, and then disconnected the call; only imagining what Hailie would talk Proof into getting her next.

"She'll have her first car by the time she hits puberty."

****