Raura's Daughter

twenty seven.

Ross' POV

"I'm like that boombox outside of your window?" Rydel questioned to the four of us with her arms crossed over her chest. "Who wrote this line?"

Riker, Ratliff and I all quickly pointed our index fingers in Rocky's direction and with a raise of his eyebrows Rocky held his lyrics up in his hand. "What's wrong with that line? It's so cliché and has a nineties feel to it."

"Rocky this is a love song!" Rydel sighed as she continued to scan her mascara filled eyes along the crumpled up piece of paper that Rocky had handed to her as a spare after we'd finished practising Heart's Made Up On You. "The majority of our fan base is made up of girls... we need them to connect with this song, we need deeper lyrics."

"Okay little Miss Perfect." Rocky mocked before snatching the piece of paper back from her and scribbling some lines onto the back of it. He cleared his throat and held it up in front of his face. "How about... hey baby girl, let's go eat, maybe afterwards you can massage my feet-"

"Ugh, you're so gross sometimes!" Rydel yelled in frustration before throwing her microphone onto the floor and stomping up the basement staircase like a child who couldn't have their own way. "Daddy! Daddy the boys are being stupid again!"

The four of us chuckled and Riker turned to Ratliff with a grin, patting him gently on the back. "Are you happy that you married her now?"

"Hell yeah, that's my baby. She might be the cause of most of my headaches but hey, she's my headache and that's all that matters." Ratliff confidently said before grabbing his drumsticks and heading back to our drum kit to work on a beat that Riker and I had come up with for our next song that we were struggling to make lyrics for.

I glanced over to the corner of the basement where Isabella was sat with her pink unicorn still glued to her hand like it had become part of who she was and to my excitement she was gurgling and waving her hand wildly at me. "Hey princess!" I chuckled before scooping her up into my warm embrace. I kissed the top of her forehead and beamed at her. "Did you see your Auntie Delly getting angry back there? Get used to it, she does it a lot."

As I held my daughter in my arms all I could think about was Laura and how what Ratliff had said about my older sister had been brutally honest and sweet at the same time. After all, Laura drove me crazy sometimes but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd had a small taster of what life would be like without her in it, I don't ever want to lose her or allow her to become a stranger in my life ever again. She was mine and I was hers. We were a team and no matter what, I'd never let us break apart again.

*

Laura's POV

I hesitantly stepped onto my front porch, waving Connor, Cece and Trisha off as they drove away in his car with nervous expressions on their faces. During the ride back to my house I'd almost backed out of seeing my mom again, I wasn't sure if I was completely ready to forgive her or if I was ready to hear her side of the story. But Cece and Trisha had assured me that we both needed some closure on the topic, dragging it on would only make it worse in the long run and honestly? They were right.

I clenched my hand into a fist and gently knocked our front door, holding a tight grip on the strap of my backpack which was slowly slipping off from my left shoulder. I could hear the slight sound of sniffling coming from inside of the house as the doorknob to our front door twisted and opened slowly, revealing my mom with her blonde hair scragged back into a ponytail and a grey dressing gown covering her entire body.

"Laura..." She murmured. Her dark eyes were filled with tears as she reached her hands out to touch my own. "You came back..."

I laughed slightly at her comment and nodded. "Of course I came back. You're my mom... remember?"

Without another word we both wrapped our arms around one another, neither of us saying anything. All I could hear was the soft sound of her tears against my chest as she held me tighter and tighter in her embrace. "Come on... I'll make you a coffee."

"That sounds great." I murmured with a smile before wiping her tears away from underneath her tired eyes. "No more crying. I'm home now and that's how it will stay."

I took a seat at the kitchen table and noticed pots and pans, dirty plates and mugs were scattered around everywhere. I raised my eyebrows and my mom sighed at me as she began to pour hot water into a mug for my coffee. "I know it's messy here... I've just been so worried about you and Bella that I let myself go a little bit."

As she handed me my coffee and took a seat opposite me with a glass of water in her hands I could see her green eyes begin to slowly well up with tears. "I also may have had some remorse for your father... and some guilt. A lot of guilt."

I nodded slowly, holding the warm mug of coffee to my chapped lips. "You tried to move on and it didn't work out did it?"

She shook her head in agreement. "It didn't work Laura, you're right."

"I spent almost a year in that bedroom upstairs, that sad, horrible bedroom... crying into your father's pillow and begging God why he would take him away from me."

A soft cry escaped from my mother's lips and I quickly wrapped my hand up in hers. "Mom... it's okay. This is good. You need this."

She nodded, keeping her head down and inhaled a sharp breath before continuing. "I met a man at a support group... he'd lost his wife recently in a car accident. We started off as friends, taking small trips to the local coffee house or grabbing a glass of wine at the local bar after a hard day at work. But then one night... everything changed."

I closed my eyes. Part of me didn't want to hear the story that my mother was about to tell and the other part of me did. After all, I deserved to know the truth. "He kissed me... we were both drunk and I invited him to come home with me so that we could talk and get to know each other a little bit better than we already did."

"We decided to dance to music from our generation and it was beautiful, Laura. It felt so nice to be held in someone else's arms again... but the whole time I thought of your father. I wished that he..."

Her voice broke off and tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"I wished that he was the one holding me instead."

I exhaled with relief and held my mom tightly in my arms. "It's okay mom... it's okay."

The pain in her voice and the tears that continued to fall from her bloodshot eyes were making me feel sick to my stomach. I bit my lip and held my tears back. I'd cried enough for my father and I knew deep down that he would want me to be happy. He'd want us all to be happy, even my mom who had slightly disobeyed him since he'd passed.

"Everything's going to be okay." I murmured once more, placing a kiss on her forehead.

*

Ross' POV

"Son... we leave in three days."

My father's voice sent chills down my spine. I held Isabella close to my chest and stared at him in confusion. "I thought we weren't going for another few months?"

He shook his head and poured himself a small glass of whisky before throwing it back down his throat. "A space has opened on tour for you guys... we had to take it. It was now or never."

I glanced down at Isabella who gurgled in my arms and smiled up at me with a mouthful of no teeth and her short blonde hair tied into two pigtails. I felt my chest tighten when I realised I wouldn't be here for her first birthday, I wouldn't be here to see her first tooth and I wouldn't be able to grow as a family with Laura and Isabella like I originally wanted.

With a deep breath and one last glance at my daughter I nodded slowly at my father in sadness. "Okay."

*

a/n

aww Ross!!!

R5 on tour though, yay!!

all my love,

b x