An Artist's Touch - [ryden AU] {COMPLETED ✔️}

Epilogue - Champagne Supernova (Oasis ; 1995)

Ross

Some years later...

"And that's pretty much how it all happened," I say to the three pairs of eyes staring at me from the floor. Cayden, being one of the youngest at only eight, was the first one to speak up, his eyes wide with interest.

"So you and Poppa fell in love, at like, first sight?" Cayden reminded me so much of Brendon that it almost hurt to look at him. He had the same beautiful brown eyes and wide smile that matched his Poppa's almost identically.

"You could say that," I answered, leaning back in my recliner as I crossed my right leg over my left. Alison spoke up next, being the oldest at fourteen she had a little bit more insight on what we were saying than her younger siblings.

"Did it ever bother Poppa that you were working all the time?" Her long, curly brown hair fell in front of her face as she spoke, a gift that she got from me along with her pale skin and pointed nose.

I bit my lip as I thought over her question, giggling to myself softly. "I think he was more so upset that I spent more time with my hands on pencils and canvases rather than on him."

"Hey, hey, hey," his voice chimed from behind me as he brought a tray carrying the kids lunch into the living room. "Alison, you're old enough to hear things like that," he said before pointing toward the eight-year-old twins, "but Cayden and Calum, your mother would skin us alive if she heard us talk like that in front of you."

"Poppa," Alison laughed as she took the tray from Brendon's hands, "you're in your sixties and you're still scared of Mom?"

"I am not in my sixties, young lady," he said sternly as he sat down on half of my lap and leaned back against me, "I am sixty. Poppy is in his sixties."

"I'm only a year older than you, so you don't have that much longer before you get there, Bren," I said as I leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek.

I felt him smile softly before he wrapped an arm around me and continued to lean against me. "But," he said, pointing at Alison, "to answer your question: yes. I am very scared of your mother."

All three of the children laughed gently, eating their sandwiches as they looked up at us. "Poppa," Calum spoke up, tugging on Brendon's pant leg, "Poppy told us about how you guy's met and fell in love, but was it always easy for you?"

Brendon tilted his head to the side to where it was leaning against mine as he hummed in thought. "No, love," he said with a soft sigh, "it wasn't always easy. As you know, Poppy worked in his art studio and I was traveling with my band all the time, so we were apart a lot. It made things just a bit difficult for us."

Calum nodded before taking another bite of his sandwich before speaking again. "Did anyone ever try to take you away from Poppy? Or take Poppy away from you?"

Brendon laughed gently and looked to me before placing a kiss to my forehead. "Nothing like that ever happened, Cal," he answered him softly. "We just felt like things were strained when we were apart for long periods of time. He couldn't always make it to my concerts and I couldn't always make it to his galleries, and, at first, it was a hard thing to come to terms with, but it got easier as time kept going."

"Will you tell us about your days on the road," Alison asked through bites of her sandwich.

Brendon was about to speak before we heard the sound of crunching gravel outside, meaning that their mother was here to pick them up. "Maybe next month when you guys come back for the weekend," Brendon said as he climbed out of my lap. "We'll sit down and I'll tell you the whole thing, just like Poppy did."

The three kids nodded as they grabbed their backpacks and stood up from the floor, taking their lunch trash to the kitchen and throwing it away. There was a knock at the door, causing me to get up from the recliner and walk over, opening it to reveal my daughter standing in the doorway.

"Hi, Dad," she said as she reached forward and wrapped her arms around me.

"Hi, sweetheart," I answered as I hugged her back tightly, feeling her laugh as I tightened the embrace. Danielle was just about the perfect combination of me and Brendon. We went through a surrogate to have her because we wanted her to have our DNA, and it worked out a lot better than we thought it would. She had my chocolate eyes and Brendon's dark brown hair as well as his high cheekbones and my jawline. She was a pretty perfect sight, if I do say so myself.

"Mommy!" Calum and Cayden barreled past me into their mother's legs as Alison and Brendon came up to us as well. Brendon reached forward and hugged Danielle as tight as I had before she pulled away to address her children.

"Did you guys behave for Poppy and Poppa?" Her tone was slightly serious but mostly playful as she spoke to them. She knew they always behaved for us.

They all nodded and said "yes ma'am" before she kissed their heads and sent them to the car. She turned to face us once they were gone and smiled softly at us. "Thank you guys so much for watching them," she started softly. "Miles and I just really needed to get away for the weekend, I hope they weren't any trouble."

"Not at all, love; they never are," Brendon said as he leaned into me again. "Matty and George brought their grand kids Kingsley, Ryan and Evan over and they all had a blast. I'm pretty sure handling them will never be a problem."

She nodded softly before reaching forward and hugging us again. "Still, thank you," she said as she began walking away. "We'll see you on Thursday for grandparent's day at the school, right?"

"Yes, Dani, we'll be there," I called after her as she got to her car.

"Awesome," she called to us. "Love you!"

"Love you, too," Brendon and I said in unison as we watched her get into the car, waving at us as she drove away. Once she was gone, we closed the door and sighed softly at the silence.

"The kids are gone," Brendon said, walking closer to me. "You wanna.. go upstairs and have some fun?"

I smirked at him as I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Will it involve having a nap at the end?"

Brendon scoffed as he rolled his eyes. "Of course it will," he said with a soft laugh. "You think I'm insane?"

The both of us laughed before I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. "You still drive me crazy after all these years," I mumbled against his lips.

"Oh yeah?" He pecked my lips once more before pulling away and raising an eyebrow at me.

"Yeah," I said softly, tightening my hold on him.

"You're like a fire; igniting the deepest parts of my soul."

The End.