Good Company - Queen Fanfiction

Chapter 8

March 13th-20th, 1979

In the last week, two people have been let go from work. One was my 'office neighbour', Tim. It sucks that he lost his job, but at least he's not next door discussing ideas with himself out loud. I have a little feeling that I may be one of the next people to go. The review section is well liked, but it hardly makes or breaks the success of the paper. Especially because someone else could easily do it rather than having one person for a relatively small job. To decrease the chance of it happening I've been working my ass off, but I don't know if that's going to guarantee anything. 

The boys have been off doing their own thing. I got a call from Roger on Saturday afternoon in a panicked state because he had arranged a date with the waitress from the Lighthouse that night and he didn't know whether to bring flowers or what to wear. God it was funny. I helped sort him out though. Afterwards he gave me another call saying, "She figured out who I was and then freaked out. I made some bollocks excuse to leave." I'd seen Brian about town a couple of times and he would always take a break to talk to me. I hadn't heard or seen as much from John or Freddie though.

March 21st, 1979

I finish my work day slightly exhausted and am looking forward to a nice rest at Brian's house. He kindly invited me over to have some afternoon tea at his place with his wife. He sent me the address and I get there at about half five. It is a lovely big house with a gorgeous garden. At the top there seems to be this observatory style structure. I guess it is for Brian when he is nerding out over space.

I walk to what I presume is the front door and knock. I can hear a bit of squealing and then someone say "Got you!" as I stand outside the door. I almost knock again, but the door opens to reveal Brian holding a squirming little boy.

Laughing, he says, "Hi Alex! Come in, come in."

I step into the entryway of the house and Brian leads me into his lounge room. On the table is some crackers, cheese and other nibbles. He sits down on the couch and puts his son down on the floor and gestures for me to take a seat.

"This is Jimmy," Brian says, looking at his son who is crawling around the place.

"He's very cute. How old is he?"

"Just gone nine months actually. He seems to be quite a clever little guy. Anyway, how are things going with you?"

"Personally, pretty good. Nothing to complain about. Professionally, not so much."

"Oh no. What's up?"

"A couple of people have been let go recently and there are probably more that'll have to go as well. District Council has cut down our funding a bit and there isn't enough money for all of the people employed. It's likely I'll be going next. I've been working my ass off, but I don't think they need another person just for reviews, you know?"

"That's terrible. Hopefully things turn out alright in the end."

"Yeah, I hope so too."

Chrissie, Brian's wife, walks in and was taken aback by my presence.

"Oh God. Sorry, I thought there was a random person just sitting in my house. I'm Chrissie, you must be Alex," she says, leaning over with her hand out. I take her hand and shake it.

"That's right. It's nice to finally meet you properly," I smile at her. She has a seat next to Brian and takes a cracker. "Your son is absolutely gorgeous. You both have clearly done a brilliant job."

"You seem to quite like little kids," Brian laughs with a mouthful of cheese.

"Brian," Chrissie says sternly, "swallow before you talk to people please. Sorry about that. He's so rude sometimes."

"It's no worry. But yeah, I've always had a soft spot for kids. Lucky little things don't have to worry about being grown ups."

"Have you ever considered having a family with Marc?" Brian asks.

"Brian!" Chrissie exclaims.

"What?" he asks, his hands in the air, "it's just a question."

"It's fine. I have thought about it, I have no doubt that Marc would be a lovely dad, but he's quite busy with work a lot of the time. I'm not sure whether he'd leave much time for kids."

"I'm sure he would if you had some, but it's not really our business," Carrie says, jabbing Brian with her elbow.

"You guys are really adorable. One day when I'm married, I can only hope to look as picturesque as the two of you."

"Hopefully your future husband doesn't have annoyingly gigantic hair," Chrissie says, poking Brian in the chest.

"Hey, you say you like it," Brian pouts.

"That doesn't stop it from being annoying, sweetheart," Chrissie replies.

I laugh with them about it, Chrissie and I making awful puns about Brian's hair. Brian decides to leave and start making their dinner. Chrissie runs off to go help him a bit, assuring me she'll be back in only a minute. During all this, Jimmy has been playing with his toys in the corner of the room, but now he is crawling over to me, toy in firm grasp, and tries climbing up my legs. I pick him up and put him on my lap.

"What have you got there buddy?" I ask.

He holds his teddy up to me and then cuddled it leaning on me. I stroke his little head as he starts drifting off to sleep on me. Chrissie comes back in and aww-s at Jimmy and I. 

I give her a smile saying, "I am the child-whisperer." 

She laughs a bit at that and sits down across from me.

"So what's your Marc like?"

"Kind, caring, hard-working. That sums him up pretty well," I says.

"Brian was just saying he lives in France. That must be a little hard sometimes."

"Sometimes. We make it work pretty well though. We do monthly visits to each other swapping turns at who's travelling. It's a system that's been working for a year now."

"Jeez, a year? He hasn't talked about moving permanently or anything?"

"No. Not really. He's not the kind of person who starts big conversations off their own back."

"Well, as long as you guys love each other, that's all that matters," she smiles at me. I, for some reason, can't bring myself to smile back. The time is quarter past six and I decide to leave the May's residence and go home.

"I think I should head home now. Thanks for having me, Chrissie," I say, handing her fast asleep son over.

"It's been a pleasure to properly meet you. Brian was buzzing about 'this fan they'd met after the show' and how great they were. I think it's great for them to have met someone who isn't interested in them only for the fact that they're famous. Especially Freddie, the poor guy lets himself get used quite a bit and ends up stung afterwards."

"Well, they're still only people, right?" 

I walk out to their kitchen and give Brian a hug goodbye.

He laughs. "It's been nice to see you without the other boys interrupting to tell stupid stories. Good luck with work."

"Thanks. I'll let you know what ends up happening. " I say as he walks me out the door. 

The three of them wave me off as I pull away.

Whilst I drive, I dwell on what Chrissie had said about Marc's seeming lack of commitment to our relationship. I had wondered a bit about it myself, for some time actually, but no one ever said anything about it. It bothers me that I wasn't suddenly filled with joy when Chrissie mentioned that as long as we love each other, it doesn't matter. Normally I would be grinning like an idiot if someone said that to me. But this time something is different, it felt strange.