Sequel: Hearts On Fire

In the Rose Garden

The Truth

Mashi groaned and plopped down onto the couch in their suite. She looked at her black Dell laptop and the small camera and tape recorder that were sitting next to it. She had just reviewed some of the footage she was able to get while out with the brothers. Jenna sat next to her and handed her a Pepsi.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Mashi sat up and looked at her after taking a sip of her pop. "Do we really have to do this? I mean, they were both really nice. They're just two kids in love, that's all. Who are we to expose that to the world? I feel so damn bad about everything."

"It sucks, I know but we have to turn everything in. If we don't, Lindsay will have our journalism careers and we'll never write another article for a major magazine ever again."

"What if it accidentally got destroyed?" Mashi used air quotes around the word accidentally. "Like, I accidentally dropped it on the floor or I accidentally spilled my pop on it?"

"If it's a risk you're willing to take then go for it. Just let me leave the room first so I can honestly say I don't know what happened."

"I guess I'm going to have to think about it."

"Just remember, with this whole thing going on with Taylor Swift, with our story, we're bound to sell more magazines than ever. Plus we basically got the inside scoop on the girlfriend. We got her name, no one else has that and we have pictures and video footage of them kissing and no one else has either of those. We both know Lindsay sent us out just hoping Joe Jonas would slip up and say something-anything-about Taylor or his new girlfriend. Well we may have not gotten anything on Taylor but we sure as hell got stuff on the new girlfriend."

"She didn't ask for any of this though. All she wants to do is date Joe Jonas in peace and that's it. If we put this out there, she won't have that anymore. She won't have that anonymity anymore. Everyone will know her name and then they'll all start making up gay celebrity couple names for them like Jaddison or something gross like that."

"Addijoe," Jenna said and laughed.

Mashi just looked at her seriously and rolled her eyes.

"Why are you in such a tizzy about this?" Jenna asked and turned to her co-worker/best friend.

Mashi sighed and leaned back against the couch. "What if we go through with this and the pressure becomes too much for her and she splits with Joe? What if we ruin them? You saw yourself how happy they were together even if they were trying to fake only a friendship. I mean, the way he looks at her, it's like she's the only person in the room. If we go through with this, we might take that away from them."

"Keyword: might. I get what you're saying but what if it brings them closer together? In the end, we all win."

"Keywords: what if. It's not a guarantee everything will turn out all right."

"And it's not a guarantee everything won't. Think about it for a while," Jenna said and patted her best friend's knee before standing up and walking away.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

"So, how'd the day go with those girls?" Mr. Jonas asked as he unloaded the grocery bags he had set on the counter. The boys started helping him put everything away.

"It was all right I guess. Am I the only one who got weird vibes from those girls?" Joe asked his brothers and looked at them.

"What do you mean?" Kevin asked.

"Like the way they asked their questions. They asked them not like fans, but like they were doing an interview."

"Hey, they kind of did," Nick said. "That's weird."

"Oh yeah and the way they kept asking about Addison and even when you said you weren't going to talk about her, they kept pressing," added Kevin.

"Especially after they caught you two in the backroom…" Nick said.

Joe responded, "I'm not going to lie but that was starting to piss me off. If I don't want to talk about my girlfriend then people should really respect that. It's not their business anyway."

"It's okay, buddy," Nick said and patted his older brother's shoulder.

"Very funny," Joe said. Nick just shrugged his shoulders.

"That's really weird," Mr. Jonas said. "Well… it's done now." He shrugged his shoulders.

Joe looked at his watch and then at his father and brothers. "Well, ladies, I'd love to stay and chat but my lady should be here soon so I'll be patiently waiting by the door like a good boyfriend does."

"Wow, you two aren't even married and she's got you pu-"

"Kevin!" Mr. Jonas said before Kevin could finish.

"Sorry Dad," Kevin apologized and stuck his tongue out at Joe when Joe mock laughed at him behind their dad's back. Kevin made a few gestures back before Mr. Jonas could turn back around. All Nick could do was laugh at the scene.

"Bye," Joe said in a singsong voice and walked away.

"What?" Kevin asked and shrugged his shoulders when his father looked at him. Mr. Jonas just shook his head and walked away.

"Were you really going to say that?" Nick asked.

"What! It's true though and I know you see it too."

"You can't talk about him too much because you're the same way with Dani."

Kevin stopped and thought for a moment. "Yeah, that is true." He nodded his head. Nick just smiled and Kevin followed him out of the kitchen.

They found Joe was standing in the doorway holding the door open. Addison walked in and was shortly followed by Mr. Turner and Katie. After the greetings, everyone seemed to split and go their own ways. Joe and Addison ended up in his room.

"Is everything all right? You seem a little preoccupied," Joe said and stared at his girlfriend.

"He never said anything about it."

"Who never said anything about what?" Joe was confused.

"My dad brought up what had happened with my mom because your parents told him about it and I told him what she said. He then said there was something you didn't tell your parents and he wanted to know what. So I told him about how she said I wasn't his and he never said I was but he never said I wasn't. What if he's not my dad?"

"When you say it like that, he is your dad. Any man can be a father but it takes a real man to be a dad. Your dad is just that, a real man. I barely know the guy and I already know I want to be the type of dad he is."

"Okay but-"

"No buts Addison. He's your dad. Besides, you two look just alike."

"I also look just like my uncle because my uncle is eleven minutes older than my dad."

"Your dad has a twin?"

"No, my uncle is a pet marsupial," she responded sarcastically and rolled her eyes. "Of course he has a twin!"

"Sorry."

"Plus my dad can't sing but my uncle can. My uncle Donnie used to be in a band before he decided he wanted to teach music instead of being in a band for the rest of his life. If my dad were to start singing, Elvis would tell him to stop. Elvis wouldn't even howl along, he would scream for him to stop."

"Maybe the gene just skipped over your dad and instead he got the ear for music," Joe suggested. "Your dad should really look into becoming a producer; he's got what it takes."

Addison just looked at Joe seriously. "What if he's really not my biological father?"

"Do you love him?"

"Yes, more than anything in this world."

"If it turned out for the worse and he ended up not being your father, would that make you stop loving him?"

"Not a snowball's chance in hell."

"Then you see it really doesn't matter. You've loved him for the past nineteen years and he's loved you for the past nineteen years. He's all you know and you know him as your dad and father and nothing will ever change that between you two."

Addison sighed. "You're right… but part of me still wants the truth."

"I say you should just leave it alone but whatever you decide to do, I'll back you up."

"Thanks Joe. I don't know what I'd do without you," she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He pressed his forehead to hers and kissed her. "I hope we never have to find out."

Downstairs, the adults were sitting in the dining room with cups of coffee talking. They were talking about the things Addison's mother said to her.

"I mean, yeah, Joe was pretty upset about it and since we know the full story, I can see why," Mrs. Jonas said.

Mr. Jonas added, "I don't see how someone could say that to their own child."

"Well she can say whatever she wants because at the end of the day, we're the ones Addison comes to, not her," Katie said and shook her head.

Mr. Turner sighed and shifted his weight. "Addison wasn't even supposed to find out about that until she was older and could handle it better."

"Wait, you're saying she really isn’t yours?" Katie asked.

"No, I'm not saying she isn't mine, there's just a possibility she could be my brother's daughter. We were on a break when it happened and a few weeks after we got back together, she told me she was pregnant. My parents had a hard enough time just accepting the fact that my girlfriend was pregnant, had they found it Addison might've been my brother's would have sent them over the edge."

"Does Addison know who the other person might be?" Mrs. Jonas asked.

"I'm pretty sure she's figured it out. I have three older brothers and one older sister and my twin brother is the only other possibility because she doesn't look like anyone else. But the point really is that Cassie shouldn't have said I didn't want her because when I realized the baby might be my brother's, I didn't care. Addison's my daughter no matter what."

No one said anything more when Frankie walked in and asked his mom if he and Joe could start making dinner. She told him sure and Frankie went upstairs to get his brother. He threw the door to Joe's bedroom open and looked in.

Frankie made a sound of disgust and said, "Come on Joe. Mom said we could start making dinner."

"You know Frankie, you're going to be a teenager one day and have a girlfriend of your own."

Frankie looked Joe dead in the eye and said, "Yeah, I don't think so. I will never have a girlfriend."

"You just keep telling yourself that, little bro," Joe said as the three of them walked downstairs. When they got to the dining room, Joe kissed Addison before heading straight into the kitchen. Addison sat on her dad's lap and put her arm around him.

"Dad, there's something I need to talk to you about when we get home if that's all right with you," Addison told him.

"Yeah, it's fine," he responded. It went without saying that everyone knew exactly what she was referring to.

"And while we're at it, we're also going to talk about me getting a dog."

"Oh yeah, I don't think so."

"We'll just see about that Daddy," Addison said and went into the kitchen by Frankie and Joe.

Katie turned to her boyfriend and asked, "So what are you going to tell her?"

"The truth, that's all I can tell her ."
♠ ♠ ♠
Feedback kudos: Giselle. Jenna. Katherine. Lela. Mashi.

This marks the end for Jenna and Mashi for right now. There may be a brief mention or two of them in a future chapter but for right now, their characters are done.

I don't really care for this chapter. I wasn't quite sure where to go with it but it's something which is better than nothing. Hope your Christmas/holiday went well and will continue to go well.