Fan to Family.

Skyscrapers and Jet-Planes

~Josh~

"Tyler, wha- whats going on?" Liz stutters.

Tyler scratches the back of his neck, "Um... We have to go out to New York to have a meeting with The Powers That Be. Every one of us. They have a bone to pick. Liz, you get to meet all of the high powered people behind the band."

"Wait, who is everyone?" I ask.

"Us, her, Jenna and Debby, Michael and Mark. Everyone."

The munchkin's breath quivers as she exhales, "Are they- are they mad? Will they hate me? What if they take me away?!"

Tyler faces his little sister and places gentle yet firm hands on her shoulders. He speaks softly, "I'm not sure of their emotions, I don't know if they'll hate you but they won't take you away. I can promise you that much. I won't let that happen and I have signed, legal adoption paperwork and CPS behind me."

Jenna and Debby shift. Jenna speaks up, "When do we leave?"

Tyler clears his throat. He picks a thread from his shirt.

"Tyler?"

"Tonight. A privet jet is booked for us and we have to be present at the office at 5:45 tomorrow morning, on the dot. We have hotel rooms, boys in one and girls in the other, and the rest of the need to know information is being E-Mailed to me as we speak. Also, we can't post anything that has any correlation to her or the live stream until further notice."

Silence hangs in the air. Jenna rushes from the room to pack. Eli runs off to go get food and leaves us sitting at the table in the dining room. We'll have to re-pack all of our bags and survive on coffee a bit longer.

Hours later, Jenna and Debby lug Jenna's things to the car. Liz sprints around the yard, killing off her nerves and anxiety. Tyler carries both his and her bags to the car; I carry my own beside him. He and Jenna arrange and pack the car while Debby and I make food. Liz sits on the counter and hums to us, swinging her legs in time to the hums. Her face and eyes reveal how scared and anxious she is, causing both Debby and I's brows to crease in concern. Her humming mellows out when Debby hands her a paper to fold up and smiles. Debby and I pack the food into a cooler, well after Liz steals a cup of raspberries.

Her lips are soon stained red, along with her content little smile as her brother tugs her from the counter and into his arms. She squeals and giggles when he throws her over his shoulder, shouting, "MY BABY SISTER!"

Debby slips her hand into mine. "Josh, they are so adorable. I'm so glad he found her. I'm glad both of you get to be a part of her life and impact it in such an astounding way," She murmurs into my ear.

I smile softly and nod, watching Jenna tickle Liz. "I am too," I mumble.

Next thing I know, we are riding in the car on our way to the airport. Eli is singing softly, the same song as earlier.

"Wait- what song is that?" Tyler asks.

Liz shrugs.

The car ride seems like we hit warp-speed. We are shuffling through bag check and security within a small amount of time and Liz is jittery again. She has a white-knuckle grip on Debby's hand as we go through security. Of course, with her luck she is the one to get pulled aside and checked. By the time it's over, Tyler is carrying her like a baby as she trembles and tears stain his shirt. He hands her off to me when he has to pull out something at the gate. It shall only be roughly about an hour and a half flight. It's already late.

"Hey, you can sleep now," Debby murmurs into Liz's ear. She covers her in a blanket and proceeds to sing softly until she falls asleep. She sleeps through the whole flight, Tyler and I play cards while the girls do whatever girls do.

"Ha! I won!" Tyler slaps down his cards and does a happy dance. I roll my eyes.

"Whatever," I mutter, ending up chuckling. "Sore winner."

"I'm only a sore winner because you cheat 95% of the time."

"As if!"

"I know your tells, Joshua. You cheat."

"You lie."

"No I don't!"

"Boy's, chill out. Don't wake her up," Jenna scolds.

"Yes mom," we both sneer. She rolls her eyes.

"You two are impossible."

"We try."

~Eli~

"Hey, kiddo, wake up," A soft voice mumbles in my ear. I slowly sit up, rubbing my eyes.

"Wha?" I slur, still half asleep.

"We're in New York, time to get off the plane," Jenna says in my ear. I nod, slipping shoes on and wrapping my blanket around me so I'm a human burrito. It's a brisk night and I can feel it from the open hatch. "We just have to walk to the car. The label arranged for us to not need to go through all the motions."

I nod and let Jenna lead me, by the hand, to the car. She helps me buckle up and then pecks my forehead.

"Goodnight, honey. Sleep tight."

Within moments I am drifting back into a peaceful sleep.

I awake in a bed, hearing Debby and Jenna babbling about Times Square.

"Did someone say Converse?" I squeal.

Jenna giggles, "Yeah, I did. They have a Converse Outlet in Times Square. Wanna go?"

I nod eagerly, jumping up to get dressed when Debby tells me to. We have to leave soon. I let Debby do my makeup and Jenna braid my hair. We agree that I should look 'nice' to meet the powers that be. Plus, Jenna said we are going to go out to a nice lunch.

The door gets knocked on and Jenna opens it, Josh stands there and says, "Time to go."

We jet to the huge building, my nerves making me chew on the inside of my cheek. We enter the building, greeted by a lady behind a computer and large marble desk. The elevator plays familiar music, clearly bands on the label. I mindlessly follow the group, Mark and Michael leading. Mark opens a door with his company ID and we all sit in swirly chairs, amidst a large conference room. The far window is entirely glass and you can see the surrounding sky-scarpers. It's captivating.

The door opens and a man wearing a specifically tailored grey and blue suit with shining shoes strides in, his hand deep in his pocket. A lady wearing a black pencil skirt and lavender cardigan follows behind him. Tyler squeezes my hand in reassurance. They sit down at the head of the table in silence, setting down notebooks and a tablet.

"Why are we here?" Mark questions, adjusting his watch.

The man looks directly at me, locking eyes but shifts to look at Tyler.

"What the hell?!" The man nearly shouts.