Hold My Hand (Sequel to Saved: Adopted by Brendon Urie)

Chapter 18

Bonnie was a pleasant woman. She and Abby were deep in conversation about Abby's schoolwork, expectations Bonnie had for Abby and they were working out some ground rules. Brendon smiled. Abby seemed to be getting along just fine with Bonnie, and that led Brendon to believe he had made the right decision with Bonnie.

"Hey, guys," he smiled as he interrupted their meeting.

"Hi, Dad," Abby smiled. Bonnie smiled as well and stood up, extending her hand to Brendon.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Urie," she said.

"Brendon, please," Brendon said. "We're going to be in very close quarters for three weeks. We may as well all be on a first name basis. Bonnie, I'd like to take you into the venue and introduce you to people. As well as get your access pass. Abby, do you mind if I steal her?"

"Can I come?" Abby asked.

"Of course," Brendon said, smiling and extending his arm for his daughter to follow them.

Brendon gave Bonnie a tour of this particular venue and explained how the layouts might be a little different but were essentially very similar. He first took her to get her pass done so she could come and go with ease. Abby kept interjecting with things she found particularly interesting or 'cool'. Brendon couldn't stop smiling as he listening to his daughter speaking so animatedly.

After Bonnie had her photo taken for her pass, and it had been printed, the trio continued their tour. Brendon showed Bonnie the way to the stage and stated she and Abby were always welcome to watch the show from the side of the stage and where they could do that from.

Brendon explained what was off limits to the two of them, mostly because it was electronics and hydraulic lifts. Even Brendon avoided those areas as much as he could.

From there he took the two to Catering so they could all have dinner. The three of them sat at a table together and Bonnie explained a little more to Brendon about her rules she expected Abby to follow. Things like letting Bonnie know where she was going to be if Abby wanted to leave the bus or wherever they were while Brendon was at work. Both Abby and Brendon felt that was reasonable.

Bonnie also expected at least four hours of schoolwork from Abby. Each day. With the weekends off.

"Four hours? In a row?!" Abby asked.

"For starters, don't you have eight hours in a row at school?" Brendon said. "And second, if you guys go out into the cities we're in, as long as there's something that can be considered educational, a museum, an art gallery, a castle or whatever, I think Bonnie and I agreed we could allow that to count. But I'm going to expect something school-worthy after."

Abby frowned. She'd thought she'd be able to get away with doing next to no work but her dad had made it clear that was not in his plans. She sighed. It could be worse.

She could be still lying in a hospital unable to move on her own. And that had sucked. Totally.

After the three of them had eaten, Brendon showed them to his dressing room, which Abby already knew.  They met up with the rest of the band who were on varying states of getting ready. Mike and Dan were already in their suits and Nicole had her tights and boots on but was in a long t-shirt and a pair of shorts because she'd run into the shared dressing room to grab a couple of things.

Brendon sent Abby and Bonnie out to explore a little more. Abby wanted to show Bonnie some of the things that got sent by fans, sponsors, and vendors.

"When I had my accident, Dad's fans sent so many stuffed animals to his PO Box back home, I thought the mailman was going to quit!" Abby laughed.

Bonnie looked at her young charge. She'd read about Abby's accident in the summer and Brendon had mentioned it during her interview. Bonnie couldn't believe six months ago this vibrant, bubbly and bouncy teenager wasn't even able to hold a pencil let alone walk.

"So, Abby, do you want to watch your dad's show tonight?"

"Definitely. It's the first night of this leg. I love watching him, but there's something special about first nights," Abby smiled. "I can't explain it, but I think you'll see it."

Bonnie nodded. She had admitted to Brendon that she was a fan of his music. In fact, she'd been so upfront about it that Brendon thought her honesty was refreshing. He knew he'd be dealing with someone familiar with his work, and also someone who knew that his private life was that. Private. And he'd insisted on a non-disclosure agreement.

"Have you ever been to one of Dad's shows?" Abby asked Bonnie.

"I have. 2019 in Montreal, Canada and 2015 in Toronto."

"You're Canadian?" Abby asked.

"Yes ma'am. Born and raised in Toronto. But I've always loved to travel. When I finished teachers college I knew I didn't really want to be stuck in a classroom all the time. So I looked into how to be a tutor in this sort of capacity. I taught English in Japan for a couple of years, too."

"Wow," Abby said. "That is so cool."

Bonnie smiled. She'd loved her time in Japan. But she'd missed her family and had returned to Toronto and took on private tutoring for wealthy families. Mostly it was preparing their kids for entrance exams to prestigious schools. But it was challenging and better than being stuck in a classroom where there were more frustrations than education.

When this opportunity had come up she had jumped at applying. Partially because she was a Panic! fan and because the opportunity to travel always pulled at Bonnie. She loved travel and she loved Europe. Some of the families she'd worked with had brought her along on extended holidays where she was expected to get the kids to do some schoolwork at some point during the day. Usually she managed a couple of hours in the morning and a couple after dinner if they hadn't gone out and weren't back late.

Abby seemed happy with Bonnie, Brendon seemed happy with Bonnie and Bonnie? Bonnie was happy with her new charge and her new boss. She was looking forward to this assignment.