No Way Back (a Taylor Hawkins fan fiction)

Chapter 23 - Next Year

Genevieve tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she sat in the endless 405 traffic.

"Iggyyyy... How far?" Shane whined from the back seat.

"Sorry buddy," Gen turned to the back of the car, forcing a tight smile. "We've still got a bit of a ways to go and this traffic is pretty bad."

Shane sighed dramatically and Gen turned her eyes back to the road ahead, thankful that Annabelle was fast asleep beside her brother.

She and Taylor had taken the kids for the weekend and she was now driving them back to Alison's house while Taylor sound checked for a secret Foo Fighters show in Hollywood. She turned the AC up, trying to avoid sweating in her very expensive dress as the California sun blazed overhead, reflecting off the gridlock before her. She glanced at the corner of the car's built in GPS. 5:30 pm. She had an hour to get the kids to their mom and get herself to the Sunset Marquis for the show. It seemed impossible. She loved Los Angeles, but the 405 was hell on earth, especially at this time of day.

She scrolled through the ipod attached to the car's stereo system.

"Any music requests, bud?"

"Death From Above!"

She laughed, scrolling to the D's. Shane's bizarrely grown up and varied musical taste never failed to amaze her, nor did Annabelle's ability to sleep through even the loudest guitar riffs - the curious benefits of a Rock and Roll Dad.

She finally made it to the exit for the 10 toward Santa Monica and praised the traffic Gods that it seemed to be moving at a more humane pace. Soon, they drove through the familiar curved tunnel that emptied onto the PCH, the ocean sparkling mere feet away, and immediately her bad mood dissipated. The drive along the coast always put things into perspective - it was her best and most loyal therapist (next to Rachel).

She pulled into Alison's driveway just minutes before 6 and hurriedly coaxed the kids from their car seats, gathering their bags from the trunk. Alison stood on the porch and Shane excitedly ran up the steps to greet his mother.

"How bad was it?" She smiled sympathetically as Gen rolled her eyes, Annabelle on one hip, the bags hanging off her other arm. "Give me those!"

"I'm sorry to drop them and run," Gen laughed, passing Alison the bags as she set Annabelle down on the top step, "I've got 35 minutes to get to the Marquis or Tay will murder me."

"Get out of here!" Alison laughed. "Tonight's a big night - you shouldn't be late!"

Gen pulled out of the driveway and chuckled to herself. Tonight was fancier than usual, but it wasn't a bigger deal than any of the other swanky events she'd been to with Taylor over the last year. She smiled, touching the beautiful diamond in her right ear. She and Taylor had celebrated their one year anniversary the weekend before, the earrings had been his gift to her along with a catered dinner at the house in Topanga they now both called home. He'd asked her to move in 2 months after they'd returned from London and she'd finally thrown caution to the wind, deciding that she couldn't hold Taylor accountable for Sergio's mistakes and allowing herself to believe this time would be different. She had yet to regret it. They had only grown closer in recent months and she'd surprisingly taken to her part-time caretaking role with Shane and Annabelle. She'd been able to quit The Sun Room and was now keeping busy with freelance graphic design work and had even booked a few studio session gigs as a backing vocalist with Taylor's help. Her life had become a bit of a rock and roll fairytale and she found herself often worried she may wake up back in Studio City, it all having been a dream. As she pulled up to the Sunset Marquis, a valet eagerly rushing to her door, she was reminded once again that this was her life now.