Someday? Never?

I Know It Hurts

After that initial day of Victoria leaving and never returning, Mark was able to establish a good rhythm with watching his boys. Of course, everyone needed a break every now and again his peers weren't entitled to watch them, so he hired a nanny who was willing to travel and could deal with the chaos of the shows.

He held video chat interviews and there were a few fans of Alter Bridge and Tremonti who caught wind of the position. Mark was gonna hire one of them, but he ran it by Estelle first. She made sure that Mark understood that hiring a fan had pros and cons and he ultimately made the decision to hire a nanny who didn't know the bands from a can of paint.

Her name was Nadia and she had twenty years of experience as a nanny. She told Mark that she was getting tired of staying home as she was close to her retirement years. She wanted to spend the last few years traveling and hoped she ended up with a family that did. She always made sure to tell Mark how grateful she was for the job. She was a sweet older woman who definitely came in clutch when Mark needed to sneak away.

Fast forward about a month later and everything was going smoothly. Victoria had finally reached out to Mark about everything, apologizing and telling him where she went. She'd also held out hope that he would rescind the divorce papers, but he remained steadfast on that. She understood, but that didn't mean she liked it. She'd at least get to see the boys soon and explain what had been going on. She wasn't sure how much Mark had told them, but she hoped it didn't crush them too bad.

As for the girls, with only five shows left before the end of the tour, Demiurgic's fan base had grown exponentially with each show. Every meet and greet was sold out, and they ran out of merch at almost every show. Everything was bigger than they ever dreamed about and they were already getting calls about starting up another tour. The only reason they declined it is because their nephew, Bryson, was coming to stay with them for school.

Their other sister, Janelle, was a Sergeant First Class in the National Guard and she had gotten orders in Texas. But because she was part time, she'd only be gone 6-8 months. It wouldn't be all at once, but she didn't want Bryson being back and forth in school. In that time, Bryson would live with them and attend school in Florida like he had been doing since Pre-K.

His dad was a Command Sergeant Major and was killed in action as he was trying to get his squad out of a minefield in Afghanistan. He and Jenelle were married three years before Bryson was born, and he died shortly after. They recovered a baby picture of Bryson from his breast pocket.

Bryson was going to the 1st grade this year and Janelle was luckily able to see him off this time. Bryson insisted on her wearing her uniform so people would know not to mess with him and she obliged. She hated leaving him, but he looked forward to living with his aunts and meeting all the cool drummers.

Now that Estelle had toured with them, she was gonna be sure to ask Flip if he could swing by and meet Bryson when he got the chance. The twins had introduced him to pro wrestling and showed him some of their favorites from back in the day, one of them being Edge. Bryson took a liking to him because he's a rockstar like he wants to be and "his fire goes harder than anyone else's."

He also had met Austen over Facetime and they became fast friends, video chatting every chance they got. He was excited to see him in person, so the girls knew they had their work cut out for them with two six year old boys. Mark would most likely be there to help but still.

"So five shows left Mark, what's the first thing you're doing when it's over?"

Mark was laying around with Estelle on the couch before it was time to go on.

"God, take a breath and get in the studio," he sighed.

"You should probably take more than just a breath," she laughed, "why don't you take some real time out and heal?"