Time & Time Again

I woke up to the sound of pounding on the room door and I groaned, cursing and quickly getting out of bed, not wanting to let the person wake Jace up. I slowly stretched out my back as I walked to the door; damn this hotel bed was killing my back. I swung the room door open so fast, surprising whoever had been knocking and almost got a knock to my face as I quickly dodged to the side, squinted into the bright hallway light, trying to take in the scene in front of me. Why on earth were there a crowd of men in front of me?

“Damn Scottie, you look like shit,” I heard and I immediately recognized the voice, my comeback spilling out of my mouth simply by habit.

“Shut the fuck up Fin,” I muttered and turned my head toward where I had heard his voice, suddenly something clicked and I looked up to see Fin smiling widely at me. “Fin!” I gasped and I jumped up to meet his waiting arms. His arms wrapped around me and I swear to god, I felt like I was home already.

I heard the sound of someone clearing their throat and then the word ass and I suddenly remembered that I was only wearing a big t-shirt and some panties, which were now exposed. I quickly let go of Fin and dropped my arms, forcing my shirt down. “God damn, guys, what are you doing here so early? A warning would have been nice, shit, I’m not even wearing a bra,” I muttered and on instinct my arms flew up to cover my chest as I stupidly said the one thing you don’t say to a group of grown men who acted like horny teenagers on a daily basis.

There were a slew of curse words and giggles and Fin even made a gagging sound. “Damn, you can’t point it out and not let us look,” I heard a voice I instantly recognized and looked over to see Mike Fuentes smirking at me; I offered him a grin and then nodded.

“I know, I know, rookie mistake, it’s been a while.” I said and laughed. I let my arms fall to my sides, my shirt too big and baggy to really offer anything but what they could imagine and rolled my eyes as someone let out a whistle.

“Seriously though, why are you guys here it’s like eight in the morning?” I asked and yawned.

“Seriously though, why do you look like such shit?” Fin asked, ignoring my question.

I glared at him. “Well I was at a photo-shoot almost all day yesterday since it was my last day to finish it and when I get off, I find out that the dumb bitch at Jace’s daycare let him sleep for almost six hours which meant he was wide awake and ready to play when we got back here. I literally just got to sleep two hours ago.” I yawned again.

“Oh, well no time for sleep now, get dressed were having breakfast then taking you to the venue so we don’t have to worry about it after our shows.” Fin said and I sighed.

“Of course,” I muttered. “You guys go ahead, Jace and I will meet you down there.” I said and shooed them away, scanning through the faces, trying to hide my disappointment when I couldn’t find a certain one. They started shuffling away; talking amongst themselves, I was about to head back into my room when I heard a voice speak low, so the others wouldn’t hear.

“He’s not here; he had some Love Before Glory stuff to go over before the venue opens.” Mike smiled down at me, still trying to catch a glimpse of something.

“Who?” I asked innocently.

“Uh huh, sure, like you don’t know who I’m talking about,” Mike said sarcastically and gently nudged me.

I rolled my eyes. “Uh, whatever Mike, go away, you’re annoying me.” I said and started to close the door. He laughed loudly, getting my joke and went to catch up with the others. I leaned back against the door. Great, two hours of sleep, a sore back and now I’m going to have a grumpy kid because I’ll be waking him up in about ten minutes. This day was starting off perfect. I sighed and went to take a quick shower.

-----*-----

We had been at the venue for two hours now, breakfast going smoothly. Jace managed to not freak about a bunch of men basically swarming him and I’m pretty sure he recognized most of them from various video chats I had had with the guys. It had just been the guys from Searching Souls and Vic and Mike from Pierce the Veil. Jaime decided sleep was more important, that jerk, and Tony had to help make sure the Love Before Glory tent was set up until Jaxin got there. As soon as Jace had caught sight of Fin he had screamed, Uncle Fin, and basically wouldn’t let go of him the whole time which was a nice change if I was being honest, normally I was the one trying to eat with a toddler strapped around my neck and it was quite amusing watching Fin trying to shove pancakes in his mouth while juggling Jace as he was so excited about everything happening around him.

I was finally able to put Jace down for a nap when we got back to the venue, setting up our bunk and packing a few things away. I had managed to find a space to store most of what we needed, the guys had a fairly decent sized tour bus, but I still need a place to put Jace’s travel crib, I was going to try and share a bunk with him but both of us were wiggle worms and I wasn’t sure how long that would last. I headed outside, deciding that it would have to go in one of the outside storage compartments. I had just managed to squeeze it in and close the compartment when I turned around and yelped in surprise.

Someone was standing right behind me and being in the path of the direct sunlight, I couldn’t see their face and it scared the shit out of me, just seeing a dark figure standing behind me.

I heard a chuckle. “Shit, I’m sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” I recognized the voice and instantly walked toward the figure.

“Tony!” I shouted and I felt him laugh as he pulled me into a hug. I hugged him, back, my arms swinging up around his neck.

I sighed and pulled back finally focusing on Tony’s face. I gasped. “Oh my God! You have a beard!” I giggled and reached up to touch his cheek. “You’re a man!” I joked and laughed again when Tony shook his head laughing at the way I was trying to touch his cheek.

“Damn it Scottie! Stop being so weird!” he said still laughing, finally giving up and grabbing my hand so I couldn’t reach him. He didn’t let go right away though and I couldn’t help but enjoy the sensation that it brought me, knowing he was holding my hand.

“Just let me touch it!” I teased still fighting against him.

“No way, it’s new, you’ll ruin it,” he joked and reached his other hand up to stroke his chin, giving me a goofy smile. “Does it look weird?”

I laughed. “No, no way, you look…hot.” I said and winked at him. I said it jokingly but I was pretty sure I still saw a hint of pink form on his cheeks and he rolled his eyes, looking down at me. I couldn’t help but look at his facial hair again though, I may have said it in a joking way but I was not kidding, he looked hot, well, sexy, if I was being honest here. It definitely suited him and I hoped that he didn’t have any plans in shaving it off soon. I smiled and looked back up at him only to see him still staring at me.

“What?” I asked, laughing nervously.

“Nothing,” he said with a grin and shook his head. He let go of my hand and reached up to run it through his hair. Jesus, fuck me now.

“You’re making me nervous Tony Perry,” I said squinting my eyes.

He chuckled. “No, nothing, it’s just, you look good Scottie, I’ve missed you, you look tired, but good.” He smiled shyly and I bit my lip. “Seriously though, when is the last time you slept?” he questioned and right on cue, I yawned and he raised his eyebrows expectantly.

“I worked a pretty long shoot yesterday and Jace decided to be little pain in my ass and wouldn’t fall asleep last night. Then the guys came and got me this morning after I had only slept for about two hours.” I shrugged. I was used to not getting enough sleep, one of the many perks that came with being a mother.

He gave me a sympathic smile, “I told them to wait and get you later but Fin was so excited, he’s missed you,” he said and reached up to playfully ruffle my hair. I glared at him. “We all did.” He grinned, noticing me glaring at him and stuck his tongue out. “So speaking of my little turtle where is he?”

I couldn’t help but smile at how happy he became when talking about Jace, still using the nickname he had given him that one night, so long ago. “Ah, the little booger is sleeping; he got about as much sleep as I did.”

Tony gave me a pout and I grinned. “Well, maybe you should go join him? You need some sleep before you turn into a zombie.” He teased and playfully pushed me toward the bus door.

“A pretty zombie?” I teased, turning around and giving him my best puppy dog eyes.

He chuckled. “The prettiest.” He stated matter of fact. “Now go, you goof.” He pushed me again and I laughed.

When I got to the door I hesitated, I had just seen Tony again and I didn’t want to leave him already. He noticed my hesitation and came and gave me a quick hug, kissing the top of my head.

“Go, Scottie, I’ll be here, well somewhere close by, when you wake up.” He laughed. “I promise, now go, don’t make me pick you up and carry you in there.”

I raised my eyebrows, silently asking if that was a real option and he grinned. “No, now go before Jace wakes up and you won’t be able to sleep anymore.” He crossed his arms across his chest, scolding me and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Fine,” I sighed and opened the door. I got up the steps and turned around to see Tony grinning triumphantly; I gave him the finger and stuck my tongue out. He laughed.

“Hey! That’s not nice,” he playfully scolded me again, then he looked at me and his eyes grew soft. “Come find when you wake up,” he said and I nodded as I watched him close the bus door.

I headed toward the bunks to find that Jace had claimed our bunk to himself, stretching himself across the entire width of the mattress. I laughed quietly and took my phone out to snap a quick photo and posted it adding the caption “first day of a three week tour and my little turtle has already claimed our bunk as his own, this ought to be fun!” I laughed quietly again, sometimes Jace reminded me so much of myself it was scary. I decided to let him enjoy his sleep this time and decided to just crash in Fin’s bunk for now, my head barely hitting the pillow before I was out cold.

Notes