Broken Descent (Bruno Mars)

Music to his Ears

Before leaving Brazil to head back to the United States, Bruno and the band stopped into a shop in Rio de Janeiro clearly geared toward tourists. The whole store looked like a rainforest. They wandered the aisles.

"We still have to get something for the kids," Phil said.

"Yeah," Bruno agreed. "Charlotte's birthday is in a couple of days."

"Holy shit," Phil gasped. "She's almost one... already?"

"Yeah," Bruno sighed. "It breaks my heart a little bit."

"It's gonna be great though too, man, to see her talking more, ya know, turn into more of a human," Phil chuckled a little.

Bruno was excited to see her grow up, but a bit nervous about the questions that she would ask him. Charlotte would see other kids, other families, looking and living differently. Bruno would have to protect her in more ways than other parents, and treat certain conversations more delicately.

"Hey," Phil said, snapping Bruno out of his thoughts. "What about these?"

Bruno looked up to see Phil holding two macaw Pillow Pets. He was also holding up a little blue t-shirt with a bunch of wildlife animals on it.

Bruno smiled and picked up a light-green version of the same shirt. "Perfect."

At the airport, Bruno and Eric went their own separate way from the rest of the band, hopping onto the plane headed toward Hawaii. For the second time in the flight, Bruno slowly opened his eyes, hoping the flight was almost over. He looked down at his watch and sighed dramatically; it wasn't even close to being over.

"You alright?" Eric asked him.

"This is the longest flight ever."

"You're just really excited," Eric said, signaling toward the headphones sitting on the back of the seat in front of him. "Watch a movie. That'll kill time."

"The Skyping and calls weren't enough. I'm never leaving her for this long ever again. I don't know how you do it."

After several movies and a couple of naps, Bruno and Eric landed in Hawaii. The second the cabin lights came on, Bruno jumped up immediately. The flight attendant gave him a look.

"Calm down," Eric smiled a little. "Wait your turn."

When it was time for their aisle to exit, Bruno jumped ahead of Eric, who had been seated in the aisle seat, with his large gift bag in hand. Eric shook his head and followed behind Bruno. There were a lot of people waiting outside the gate to greet their family and friends. Bruno stood on his tip toes as he walked, trying to see over the shoulders of the people in front of him, and then he saw her.

Bernie was there, with Charlotte on her shoulders. Charlotte was holding a sign, saying "Looking for my daddy...he's out of this world."

Bruno started cracking up as he approached Bernie, dropping the gift bag on the floor for a second. "Aww...I promise if I ever go to Mars you're comin' with me. Hell when I'm going to the grocery store, you're comin' with me."

Bernie took the sign from Charlotte's hands.

"C'mere, sweetheart," Bruno said, taking her into his arms.

She started giggling uncontrollably as he kissed her face a thousand times. She started playing with his now massively-curly hair.

"I never knew how much I would miss this."

Waiting in the baggage claim area, Bruno sat down on the bench as Eric looked for their bags. Charlotte stood in front of him. It saddened him how much she'd grown, even though it hadn't been that much time. She peaked a little into the bag as Bruno started to take things out. He took out the t-shirt and held it against himself to let her look at the animals. She pointed to each of them and smiled. Charlotte tried to look into the bag again, but Bruno quickly closed it. The rest of the gifts were for her birthday.

Bruno had decided to stay to celebrate Charlotte's birthday in Hawaii, since the whole family was there already, most importantly his mom. He decorated the majority of the house with streamers, balloons, and the works.

He set her in the high-chair, the same high-chair he used to sit in when he was a baby. Bruno set a little cupcake down in front of her with a single candle on top. He saw the reflection of the flame and amazement in her eyes as he lit it. Her excitement over something so small warmed the hearts of the whole family she was surrounded by. As they sang "Happy Birthday" to her, her eyes gazed from the left to all the way to the right, stopping at her dad, hearing him sing the last word.

"Alright, Peanut," Bruno said. "Blow out the candle."

Charlotte just stared.

"Bruno," Eric said. "I don't think she knows what you're talkin' about."

"Sorry, Charlotte," Bruno said, pulling his seat closer to her. "Watch Daddy."

Charlotte gave him her full attention as she watched him dramatically take a deep breath, blow out the candle, and relight it. She still stared up at him after a couple of seconds.

"Go ahead, sweetheart," Bruno smiled, lightly brushing a finger on her arm.

Charlotte took a very dramatic and deep breath, just like Bruno, and blew out the candle. Bruno smiled and cheered for her and everyone else followed. He peeled off the wrapper of the cupcake and continued to sit by her as she inspected the frosting with her finger for a few minutes.

"Nice party," Eric said, approaching them with a cupcake in his hand. "Hey if the singing thing ever fails, you could always do children's parties."

"Ha HA," Bruno mocked. "Very funny."

Bruno and Eric got to talking a little bit. Bernie came over, noticed Charlotte and ran to get her camera. Bruno looked over and laughed, watching Charlotte's little cheeks covered in chocolate. Before he could clean her up, Bernie stopped him to take a picture.

"Aww," Bruno cooed as he looked at the camera.

"I have the exact same picture of you like this. Remind me before you go back to Los Angeles and I'll find it for you."

Later that night, before bed, Bruno sat Charlotte on the bed. She was all clean and wearing her new shirt. He took the macaw Pillow Pet out of the bag and her face lit up. She squealed a little bit too.

"Happy birthday," he said quietly.

Charlotte squeezed it very tight.

"Do you know what sound he makes?"

Charlotte pulled the bird away from her chest. Bruno took it back for a second and faced it toward her. He started imitating macaw noises, moving it a little closer to her face. Charlotte started laughing so hard that she couldn't stop. He could've stopped to let her catch her breath, but he didn't want to. He'd make the sound for the rest of his life just to hear her laugh like that.

Bruno gave her the macaw back but she immediately shoved it back to him, making him furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

"Again," she squealed as she bounced up in excitement.

Bruno looked at his watch. "Okay, one more time."

He pointed the bird in her direction once again and started making the noises. It excited her just as much as it did the first time. Charlotte laughed for five straight minutes without stopping. In the middle of her laughter, Bruno picked her up, hugged her for a while, and set her in her crib. Her laughter settled and her eyes began to close. He set the bird into her chest and she held it tight.

"Good night, Charlotte. I love you," Bruno whispered, kissing his hand before placing it on her forehead.

When he turned off the light and climbed into bed, she started giggling again. Bruno lay there, silently, with a grin on his face. The sound of his little girl laughing was music to his ears.