Baby of the Band

Fifteen

It took another week or so to get Rob, Rikki, and Bret to really and truly open up to one another, their final band mate still locked up in a padded room in a strait jacket. They still didn't know what he was plotting in regardsta the shortest blonde, but they knew the front man was opening up about more stuff than he ever had before. Granted, everyone was shocked when the lone brunette finally made use of the Scrabble tilesta come clean about his childhood, the words he spelled out bringing them all to tears.

        Considering that they weren't stupid, they were easily able to figure out how being abandoned by his Birth father as an unborn baby woulda affected him. No doubt that was part of why he'd been such a wild child in recent Years, and it'd contributed quite a bit to his heavy drinking. In fact, the guys'd say that he managed to drink more than GN'R's Duff McKagan, which was a feat in its own right.

        The aftermath of that kinda childhood wouldn't have been good for anyone, but for a man with few coping skills–well, it was even worse. Alcohol was his go-to for coping when things got tough, not to mention just let loose and enjoy himself for once. Bret and Rikki couldn't help a wince as they finally started to see why he'd such a temper when it came to getting the rest of them off their asses, 'cuz there was work to be done. He'd things so much harder than they'd ever Dreamt of as a child, and he didn't wanna live like that anymore, now that he was grown. Unfortunately, they'd just been making things harder on him without ever realizing just how much so, considering the Secrets he hid.

        Once those things were brought up into the Light of Day, they realized just why he was struggling to make his marriage to Mishy work. It wasn't just for the sake of their infant son like they'd originally thought, although that definitely played a big role in things. Rob was struggling to hold on for himself just as much, given that his own parents'd been married when he was conceived, divorced by the Time he'd been born.

        "I don't wanna put Zak through that," the drummer read after he'd rearranged the Scrabble tiles yet again. "Ya don't have any clue what it's like to live like that–like this, once you're grown."

        "They might not, Bobby, but I do."

        All eyes–even the tearful ones of the pint-sized bassist–turned to look at Siren, who'd brought her daughter with her to the drummer's house for this group meeting.

        "I, too was abandoned by my Birth father," she said, looking him dead in the eye. "I was unborn like you, or between the ages of two and four months–depends on whose story ya believe. Either way, he's never been a part of my Life–even after my mother and I moved out here to Cali–and I don't care to ever have him be a part of it."

        "Wait, seriously?" Bret asked, staring at the mother of his daughter in shock.

        "I'm originally from North Carolina–how else do ya explain the thick country drawl and me being at that Fateful Norfolk show a few Years ago?" the young Witch countered with a smirk.

        "Well, I'll be damned," Rikki breathed, equally surprised.

        "Bobby's right about growing up in such a way not being easy," Siren continued. "All the What ifs? and Why didn't Daddy love me enough to stick arounds? aren't easy for anyone to cope with, especially a child."

        The pint-sized bassist nodded vigorously, tears falling down his cheeks as she became his physical voice since she already knew how he felt.

        Each of them noticed the front man staring at her, a questioning look on his face.

        "I never lied to Marina aboutcha," she told him in responseta that unasked question. "I didn't know when, where, or how, but I Knew we'd eventually cross Paths again–and that when we did, you'd prove to her how much ya loved her on your own."