Broken Descent (Bruno Mars)

Perfect to Me

Back in Los Angeles, there was a lot to do, on top of an already-long list. Bruno grabbed his phone with his free hand.

"Bruno we gotta get goin'. We have a lot of things to buy and get done. Your sisters helped a lot, but we still have things we need to get before we hit the road. I'm not going to help you if you're gonna make me do all the work," Phil said, jingling his keys.

"Calm the hell down, man. I'm making a list."

Phil widened his eyes and put his hands up. "Oh okay, then, well aren't we Mr. Responsible now?"

Bruno smiled down at Charlotte, fast asleep in his arms. "Well I have to make sure everything is perfect for my little peanut."

"Newsflash, Bruno. You need to let go of being a perfectionist. When you go into the studio, you can practice, rerecord, and practice again. Even if you don't make a lot of mistakes as Bruno Mars, you're going to make mistakes as Dad, and you have to be okay with that."

"Well," Bruno grinned, put his phone in his pocket, and held Charlotte with both arms. He kissed her forehead softly. "I'm going to do the best job I possibly can."

Bruno and Phil hit up a bunch of different stores and got everything they needed. Bruno buckled Charlotte in her seat and got into the front. She had been sleeping a lot, barely making a sound. Bruno was mesmerized by her as well as the mounds of boxes in the back.

"Damn there's a lot of stuff in here. Now I understand why you had to convince me to get another bus."

"Well," Phil laughed a little. "She is a human being. Think about all the stuff you have to bring on tour. Hell you need two boxes just for your hair."

"Hey the Whomp and Stomp is a work of art. It needs a lot of care and maintenance," Bruno paused for a second about to speak, but sighed instead thinking about the huge changes taking place in his life. "I just don't wanna really screw anything up, man. Screw up a song, it only hurts me. Screw up being a dad...well..."

"Hey listen, man. Everyone's been really critical of all this, and I know I was at first. You're off to a good start, though, and you're gonna be great. You already are. You're not gonna screw up. You're going to learn how to be a great dad and Charlotte's gonna learn what a great dad is like... because of you. Without you, she probably wouldn't have had the chance to experience life at all. Don't sweat it."

Putting Charlotte to bed later that night was different from the night before. She was wide awake for a while, not crying, just kind of staring up at him.

"C'mon, sweetheart," Bruno whispered, gently brushing his fingers against her cheek.

He started making faces at her and she cracked a smile. "Aww...can you fall asleep for me now? For Daddy?"

Bruno slowly rubbed her stomach with one finger and she started giggling. "I love you, Charlotte."

Charlotte started cooing and Bruno gasped excitedly.

"What does that mean?" he smiled widely. "Are you trying to say 'I love you too Daddy'?"

Charlotte slowly wrapped her whole hand around his finger, smiling back at him.

"I can't wait to hear those words."

Both Bruno and Charlotte's lives would drastically change, especially in the first few months. Every decision Bruno had to make after that, changed after becoming a father. His views on the world changed after becoming a father.

Days into the tour, Bruno and his band were off to a good start with the North American leg. Music-wise, everything was perfect. Bruno was able to control the set, the choreography, the setlist, everything, but he couldn't stop Charlotte from crying in the middle of the night. One night, Bruno made all the buses make an unscheduled pit stop because he thought he couldn't handle it. Phil entered Bruno's tour bus to help him, more for emotional support than anything else.

Phil grabbed Charlotte from her crib and started rocking her around. She was restless. "Bruno we're on a schedule. We can't keep stopping like this."

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong. She's not sleeping."

"She's a baby. She's a really young baby, at that. If she wasn't waking up, crying every couple of hours, then that would be a reason to worry."

It didn't calm him down at all. "But...but what if she knows I'm not her real dad, likes senses it or something...and I'm not good enough."

"Here," Phil said, getting closer to Bruno. "Hold her."

"But I'm not supposed to pick her up every time she cries. I read online that..."

"Bruno, forget about what people say on the internet for a bit and do what you think is right. Now, hold your daughter."

Bruno's nerves melted right away when he held her. He wiped away her tears and she started to yawn and quiet down. His face lit up.

"Aww," Phil said. "If you could just see your face right now."

Bruno pouted, but with a smile. "Look at her though."

"Bruno you're gonna need to start looking at the bigger picture...not the little details. When she's older, she's not gonna care if you buy the wrong diapers or give her a food she doesn't like. It won't matter to her. What will matter to her is that she had a parent who really cared about her."

"She does," Bruno smiled, rocking her back and forth, until she fell asleep.

"Then it's all good. A girl's dad is the first guy she falls in love with, bro. That's gonna be you. You're gonna be her best friend, her world, the one person she'll truly be able to look up to."

Bruno kept smiling and Phil went over to the top of the stairs, about to leave for the other bus. Bruno walked toward Charlotte's crib.

"Oh, and Bruno?" Phil said at the last second.

Bruno turned around slightly. "Yeah."

"You are her real dad. Never forget that. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah," Bruno laughed a little to himself. "Thank you."