Baby of the Band

Thirteen

Before they could even get the boys strapped into their car seat and carrier, Rikki and Mishy were distracted by another car pulling into the driveway. It turned out to be Bret, who was madder than hell and ready to fight, if the look on his face was anything to judge by. Sighing as he paused in opening his car door, the drummer begged for an ounce of unspent Patience, his friend gripping his shirt from where he was riding on his hip.

        The front man cocked a brow as he closed his own car door, wondering what the quartet was up to since he'd been told Rob and Zak'd been sick recently. He figured maybe they were off to another doctor's appointment to make sure they were recovering properly–till he noticed the Wooden chest at the ginger's feet.

        "Where on Earth're ya guys off to?" he asked curiously.

        "The home of a new friend," the drummer answered. "We kinda need her take on something so we don't just assume the wrong thing."

        "Really, now?" Bret looked surprised, as well as curiously confused. "Doesn't have anything to do with the band, does it?"

        "Actually, it might have everything to do with the band," Mishy said, settling her son's carrier into its base. "That's exactly why we want her opinion before we just run with it, though."

        "Personally, I think Bret oughta tag along," Rikki mused. "Maybe he'll learn something new–and that's if we all don't learn something new."

        "Guess it depends on where you're going," he told them. "I mean, I just got a call about C that we kinda need to talk about since what I got told could very well Destroy this band."

        "Then get back in your car and just follow us unless ya think ya can squeeze between two car seats," the drummer laughed.

        "We can always throw him in the trunk instead," his friend's wife giggled as she straightened.

        "Oh, yeah right–like that wouldn't look suspicious at all for me to come crawling outta the trunk when we finally stopped!" Bret crowed with a grin.

        "That's assuming we letcha out at all, depending on how noisy ya get back there," he shot back with a grin of his own.

        Rolling his eyes, the front man managed to squeeze himself past Rob's car seat, which was positioned behind his wife's seat. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, even though all of Poison was pretty skinny, but not one he couldn't handle for the few minutes they'd be driving to their destination and back. Once he was settled since he didn't bother with a seat belt, Rikki leaned down to get their friend strapped in, the pint-sized bassist just suckling his paci as he let him.

        With everybody in the car, he backed outta the driveway since Bret'd parked beside him and aimed them for Sherman Oaks. Mishy'd already called the young Witch to let her know they were coming, but they hadn't bothered going back in to call again and let her know they'd a plus-one now. Then again, she'd seemed like she'd known they were on their way the first Time they went to her house, so maybe she'd already Know about that part. Her daughter'd claimed that happened with even stupid stuff, like Knowing she'd snuck a cookie right before dinner, after all.

        Bret couldn't help but be kinda underwhelmed by the house they pulled up at about ten minutes later as the drummer parked. It reminded him of his childhood home in a lotta ways, but at the same Time, he'd gotten used to a lot fancier things in recent Years. Considering that he owned a nearby mansion that was completely decked out, maybe he needed to come back to his roots, so to speak.

        The front door was flung open before they could even get Rob and Zak outta the back seat, lil Marina running down to help them as her mother waited in the doorway. Rikki and Mishy both waved to the young Witch, who Returned the wave as she watched their friend unfold himself from the back seat once the pint-sized bassist was riding the taller blonde's hip again. Her daughter giggled as she closed the car door while he was stretching his legs, one of which she grabbed in a tight hug as she cried a single word that took all of the visitors by surprise. None of them were expecting her to grin up at the shorter blonde as she called him Daddy, which made all their eyes widen.