PTSD | Sequel to Little Clifford

23

Michael's POV

Today was the day we recorded the last song for the album and we were all super excited. It was called 'Carry On' and we were very proud of it.

Arden, of course was with us and this was the first time she was going to see our full recording process. Usually she was kind of just in and out of the room. I was really excited for her to be hearing this full song though because she was one of my reasons behind writing it.

All of us boys had different way that we related to the song. I think for all of us it was a message to ourselves and to the fans and then we all had special people we dedicated it to. My special person was Arden.

She had suffered and gone through so much and her road to recovery is not a smooth one, but she'll get there. She's not alone and she doesn't have to face her problems alone and I wanted her to always remember that... even when she got older and didn't find her brother very cool anymore.

"Ok, let's try the harmonies," John instructed as all of us boys made our way into the booth and surrounded the microphones.

Arden sat on a chair right next to John and he often let her push the buttons that needed to be pushed, she was loving it.

After we finished singing the verse, the music stopped.

"Tell them, 'More Emotion!'" John whispered to Arden as he turned on his mic.

"More emotion!" She giggled.

"No, no! They're boys! You have to yell it like- MORE EMOTION!" He screamed, making us all laugh.

"More emotion!" She said in her usual soft voice, only giggle harder.

"What? You still said that normally!" He teased.

"Yeah, we've discovered that she can not yell or show any anger," I tell John.

"It's true," Luke laughed, "Yesterday she got up from the table at dinner to go grab her book to show us how far she had read, and in that time we all ate her chicken nuggets. She comes back and she just laughs and goes, 'What? They disappeared' trying to play along with the joke!"

John laughs and turns to Arden, "I hope they went and bought you more chicken nuggets after that."

She nods and smiles, "They did."

We redid the verse, with more emotion this time. As we continued singing the song, I saw Arden put her hands over her cheeks as a big smile stayed glued onto her face.

We managed to finish the song pretty fast since it was a short song. The four of us walked out of the booth and Arden came and hugged me.

I laughed and picked her up, placing her on my hip, "Did you like it?"

"It's so beautiful," She wraps her arms around me and buries her face into my neck.

"Aww, my love!" I smile, rubbing her back to comfort her. I think she was embarrassed about showing so much emotion.

She slowly pulled away and I used my thumb to gently wipe away the tears that I saw on her cheeks.

"I love you so much," I say to her quietly with a huge smile, putting my face closer to hers.

"I love you too."

I place a kiss on her cheek, before giving her another hug.

-

"Grace don't leave me!" I whine, dragging out my words.

"I wish I didn't have to," she gives me a small smile.

We were currently standing in the airport. It was time for Grace to go back to London for school and we were not happy about it.

"But I'm going to miss you so much," I pout.

"I'm going to miss you more!" She challenges.

"I don't think so! Are you sure you have to go to college? You can just stay with me and I'll take care of you forever and ever."

Grace fake gasps, "Mr. Clifford, are you hinting that you want to marry me?"

I wink, "Maybe. But in the future."

"Well, I would love to stay with you forever and ever, but you guys are going on tour soon so I might as well go to school and get my degree."

"You're right, Love. I'm going to miss you though and I hate thinking about tour when you're not going to be with me, but I'm going to be sending you tickets to the shows in London. I think we get week there or right around there so I will get it sorted out to make sure I spend it with you. Then I'll call you and see what other dates you'll be able to fly out and send you tickets."

"Did you know that you're amazing?" Grace smiles.

I just chuckle, "I will definitely be making time to come to other shows, and then after this tour... I'll follow you. I won't stay in London. If you move to Australia, I'll transfer there. If you move to America, I'll transfer there," she tells me softly.

"I'm so in love with you," I placed my hands on her cheeks and placed my lips onto her's, giving her a kiss. It was full of love, not lust, but as we gently moved our lips together, I could see Calum slowly put his hand over Arden's eyes.

I pulled away and placed one more peck on her lips. We both turned and smiled at the sight of Calum's hand over Arden's eyes and her giggling, trying to get it off.

"Calum!" She giggled.

"I'm sorry, I can't let you see this rated R stuff the lovebirds were doing," he said in a deep voice.

"It was a kiss!" I argued with a laugh, "Freaking Barbie does it in her movies now!"

"I know," Calum sighs and playful rolls his eyes as he lets Arden go, "But I can't let Arden think it's ok to go around kissing boys."

"Boys are icky," she laughs.

"Oh my child, stay that way forever," he says dramatically and pulls her in for a hug.

He finally lets her go though so that she can say goodbye to Grace. Grace squats down to her height and opens her arms for Arden to run into.

They hug each other tight before pulling away slightly, "I'm going to miss my little Princess! I can't believe I have to leave you with ALL these boys!"

"We aren't that bad," I fake scoff.

"Stay strong, continue going to therapy and being honest, keep reading because pretty soon you're going to be smarter than all these boys, and keep smiling because it looks absolutely beautiful on you. I'm going to be seeing you really soon, ok?"

Grace and Arden had gotten really close over the past few weeks. They already had a pretty special bond since Grace was the one to first meet Arden at the orphanage.

"I'm going to miss you, Grace," I hear her whisper.

"I'm going to miss you so much, but you'll see me soon. I promise," Grace gives her one last hug before placing a kiss on her forehead and standing up.

"I have to go check in now. I love you guys and I can't wait to hear the album and see you guys on tour."

We all pulled her into a huge group hug before finally letting her go check in.

I ran to give her one last kiss, "I love you."

"I love you too," she giggled.

A/N

AHHHH I've been writing a lot.

Just wanted to say that cookiemonster036 is really sweet.

Don't know if I already said this but Maybe__Baby are working on something really cool and I'm super excited!

Love you guys!

Red