When We're Together (Damon Albarn)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Monday 25th May 2009

"Morning, Mornin'" I laughed in a sing-song voice as I practically skipped into the rehearsal room.

I got a few groans and mumbles in response but I didn't mind, I was feeling unbelievably happy this morning and I wasn't entirely sure why. Damon and I had just arrive, late as always, for another day of press and rehearsals. We were only rehearsing one day per week and it has quite quickly grown to be my favourite day of the week.

"You're very happy this morning" Graham laughed, an eyebrow raised as he watched me prance over the room to him. Placing a kiss onto his cheek before taking his face in my hands.

"That's because I get to see your beautiful face today" I pouted, blowing him a kiss as he tried to shake my hands off of his head.

"Weirdo"

We had finally reached parklife, which came as a welcome change for myself and Damon. My memory of leisure was shocking, modern life wasn't much better but I was feeling confident about parklife, I was certain I knew a solid 90% of the words.

It has turned into the most enjoyable rehearsal we had had yet, everyone was in good moods and we all seemed to fly through the album pretty seamlessly. Which was a relief as we were just wrapping up Lot 105 when my phone rang, I excused myself before taking the call in the corridor.

"Mrs. Albarn, I'm calling from Bassett House, I've got Missy here with me"

I swallowed hard at her words, a panic instantly rising in me as I thought through all of the different scenarios that could've led to this phone call.

"Is everything okay?" I stuttered out, before forcing myself to take a deep breath.

"Yes, Missy's fine, she's just a bit upset and we can't seem to calm her down or get her to talk to us, we were wondering if you were able to come and collect her?"

"I'll be right there" I told her, before quickly thanking her and then hanging up on the call. I had a million things swirling through my mind as I tried to think of what could have upset her, she was so happy when we dropped her off at school this morning.

"That was the school" I said as I reentered the room, Damon instantly looked up at me, a frown on his face "They've asked me to go and get Missy, apparently she's really upset and they can't seem to calm her down"

"What's happened?" Damon asked, standing up and walking towards me, I shrugged my shoulders in response.

"Not sure" I told him, throwing my bag over my shoulder before placing a quick kiss onto his lips "But I'll bring her back here, I won't be long"

It didn't take me long to get to the school and my stomach dropped when my eyes landed on Missy, she was sobbing, her face was red and she couldn't breathe properly where she had gotten herself so worked up.

I wasted no time in picking her up, placing a kiss on her head as I wrapped my arms around her, before thanking the office lady and signing her out for the rest of the day.

I knew there was no point in me trying to talk to her, instead I chatted away about our morning, anything to keep her distracted from the tears which were still flowing down her face. Thankfully we were re-entering the rehearsal room fairly quickly, she had calmed down since I had picked her up but the tears still hadn't stopped flowing.

Damon jumped up from his seat at the sight of us returning, coming over to take Missy from my arms but she shook her head, clinging onto me and refusing to let Damon hold her.

I sighed as I sat down on the small sofa, gently rocking Missy as she sat on my lap. I reached across and gave Damon's hand a squeeze, a reassuring squeeze which told him not to take it to heart that she wouldn't let him hold her.

"What's gone on Miss?" I asked softly, the rest of the boys had now come over, the five of us sat looking at her upset face in complete worry.

"I-I" She stuttered out before a fresh set of tears fell out of her eyes. I gently hushed her, rocking her as she slowly stopped the tears.

"It's okay Missy, it's okay" Damon said gently, a hand gently rubbing her calf. She nodded her head as she looked between us.

"One of the boys in the playground said that, he said that Daddy kissed lots of other girls and that you're going to, you're going to get a divorce" She managed to get out, before she was sobbing again. I subconsciously tightened my grip on her, letting her bury her head in the nook of my neck as Damon and I flashed each other the same concerned eyes.

"That's not true darling" I said quietly, before clearing my throat and repeating myself louder. There was a heavy atmosphere amongst us, Missy had no idea of the severity of what she had just said to us.

"I love your mother dearly Miss, I promise we're not going to get a divorce" Damon told her softly, she nodded her head, chewing on her bottom lip as she looked at Damon apprehensively.

"And you haven't kissed lots of other people?" She asked quietly, her eyes widened as she waited for his response.

"Of course I haven't" He told her firmly, a small twitch in his left eye being the only indicator of the lie he was telling her, but sometimes a lie isn't always the worst thing.

Missy nodded her head, moving herself across the sofa so she could cuddle into him, the apprehensive look she was giving Damon now directed at me.

"He also said that, that Anais' Daddy's brother, her" She paused briefly to furrow her eyebrows, but I already knew where this was going "Her uncle, he said that you used to kiss Anais' uncle, is that true Mummy?"

I dropped my gaze down, before looking helplessly at Damon, then Graham, then Alex, then Dave, in the hope that one of them would help me out. Instead, all four of them just gave me the same raised eyebrow look of you're on your own.

"I erm" I laughed lightly as I subconsciously fiddled with my wedding ring "I kissed him once or twice when we were younger, a lot younger, years and years before you were born"

"Why would you do that?" She exclaimed loudly, clearly horrified at what I had just told her.

"I was young and I was a little bit silly" I told her, pulling a face in the hope that she'd drop the subject.

"It's nothing for you to worry about darling" Damon told her, his hands running through her hair "It was ages and ages ago now, me and your mum are very much in love and you've got nothing to worry about, I promise"

"Are you sure?" She asked, chewing on her bottom lip again as she looked between us "He said that his mum told him that, why would she lie?"

"I'm not sure sweetheart, but we're telling you that it's not true and we promise"

After a few biscuits and a glass of squash Missy had long forgotten about her upset, instead she was focusing on pointing out every little mistake we made.

"It doesn't sound like that on the CD"

"Wrong words Dad"

"That doesn't sound very good"

"Mum, you've got it wrong, again!"

Whilst her comments kept us all entertained, she was blissfully unaware of how her words were still spinning around all of our minds, the five of us struggling to concentrate as we realised what we were now up against.

Damon and I always knew there would come a point when we'd have to have those conversations with our children, we just didn't expect it to be so soon. Missy was only nine, she was too young to know the actual truth and Damon and I certainly weren't ready to give it to her.