Part 2- This is Your Pilot Speaking

Chapter 5

Alice sat at the kitchen island of her London flat having a cup of tea. It had been a week since she left Ibiza. She felt like she needed a vacation from her vacation. It had been the best, and worst time of her life. She had met Bruce Dickinson, had been intimate with him, had fallen in love with him...and had also ruined his marriage. She wondered how he was doing, and if he thought of her as much as she thought of him. Alice tried to tell herself that she didn't care for Bruce any longer. That what had happened was in the past and they would never see each other again. But she knew she was fooling herself. She was still very much in love with him. She tried to forget about him, even to the point where she wouldn't listen to Maiden. She didn't want any reminders of him. The problem was, everything reminded her of him. She would turn on the telly and Monty Python would be on, she would think of him. An advert for a travel agency offering trips to Spain..she would think of him. He was constantly on her mind.

Alice sighed, she didn't know what to think about her current situation anymore. She had agreed to meet Griffin at the Bell and Crown Pub in Chiswick to talk. She had explained to him what had happened between his Dad and her over the phone, but he wanted to meet her in person. She didn't know why she had agreed to meet up with him. What more could she say? Why did he want to meet her? After all, she was the cause of his parent's separation. When they spoke on the phone, Griffin was rightfully upset with her, but not once had he disrespected her or raised his voice. He listened to her, and let her know how he felt about the whole situation. He didn't put the blame entirely on Alice, Bruce was just as much to blame as she was. But he was upset with her because she could have stopped Bruce before things got out of hand. She knew he was married, knew he had a family waiting for him back at home...but she still allowed him to charm his way into her bed.

Alice pulled out her cellphone to look at the time. It was noon. She was to meet up with Griff at 2. She sighed as she put her empty teacup in the sink. How was it that she always found herself in the most peculiar situations? When she was with Jack, he had cheated on her constantly in the 10 years they were together. She forgave him each time. She had walked in on him with other girls, and still forgave him. It was when she caught him with her best friend that she decided to end things. She later found out that they had been seeing each other for over 4 years. Alice vowed to herself that she would never let another man treat her like that, and that she would never be the other woman. She knew how it felt to have the person that you love betray you. Yet, when she met Bruce, she became the other woman. She hated herself for that.

Alice got in the shower, letting the water and the steam pour over her. She was nervous about her meeting with Griffin. What was she to say to him? That she loved her Dad? That she was sorry for breaking up his marriage but wasn't sorry about what happened? Alice slid down onto the floor, all her emotions and doubts came out at once. She cried until there were no more tears left.
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Paddy hadn't seen Bruce since he came back from Ibiza. She missed him terribly. Austin had texted her the day before to let her know he was going to be spending the day with him. She was glad that Bruce had some company, and that their kids weren't avoiding him. Bruce was a family man. Besides his Grandad, he didn't have a close relationship with either of his parents. Sure, he loved them, they loved him...but they weren't a close family unit. His Grandad was the one that took him under his wing, taught him to fight, encouraged him to follow his dreams...Bruce was the man he was because of Grandad Austin. Paddy knew of his life growing up, and he had vowed to her that once they had kids, he wouldn't be a stranger to them as his own parents were. He loved Austin, Griffin, and Kia more than anything. He was an involved Father who would call daily while he was on tour. He would spend hours with the kids when they were little, just listening to them tell him about their day. He would wake up in the middle of the night and crawl into a toddler size bed if they woke up having a night terror. He was an amazing Father. Even now that they were older he was supportive of their choices. Bruce would make it a point to make it to a Shvpes or As Lions gig. His heart would swell with pride seeing his boys onstage leading their own bands. He would also be in the front row in the theatre during one of Kia's plays. Paddy could never take that away from him, he was an amazing Father.

Bruce was also an amazing husband. When Paddy had first moved to London from St. Louis, he made sure to have parcels delivered to their home with things she couldn't find in the U.K. This was pre-Internet days, so he had to make long distance phone calls to ensure that his bride had everything she needed to feel a little bit more at home. When she was pregnant with the kids, he would go out on late night drives to pick her up food. He would put up with her mood swings, and would remind her daily how beautiful she was. Besides his indiscretion in Brazil, Bruce had never given into temptation, at least that she knew of. 20 years later, he did it again, this time with a beautiful, young lady. Paddy had called Alice a groupie, but she knew she wasn't. Alice wasn't like the hanger ons that she'd seen backstage, trying to get into Bruce's pants right in front of her. If Bruce didn't oblige, she would move on to Steve...and so on. Groupies didn't care who they banged, as long as they got to bang someone in the band and could later brag about it. Paddy had seen groupies hook up with the roadies. They didn't care. The roadies had access to the Maiden guys, that was close enough in their warped mind.

Taking out her cellphone, Paddy decided to ring up Bruce. She needed to see him. She needed to feel him close to her. Her finger hovered over the call sign under his name. She hesitated for a minute before pressing it.

"Paddy?" Bruce answered the phone after only 2 rings. It would usually take a few rings for him to answer. He would usually set his phone down somewhere and forget about it, or would have it turned off. He had been anxiously waiting for a phone call, either from Paddy or Alice, but he had been waiting.

Paddy let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Her heart was beating hard in her chest. She loved Bruce so much, he still had his hold on her. "Yes Bruce, it's me."

Bruce let out a laugh, he didn't think she would call him. "Paddy, I missed you...I...." he wanted to tell her how he felt, how he loved her, beg for her forgiveness. Would that drive her way though? ".....I love you Pad. I've missed you so much." Bruce could feel himself start to get emotional.

"I miss you too." Paddy could feel tears begin to stream down her cheeks, "Bruce, can you please come over? I need to see you. Please....come over."

Bruce felt as if his heart was going to burst through his chest. She wanted to see him. Hopefully this meant that there was a chance for their relationship to work. He needed to see her as well. He needed to feel her, see her beautiful smile....

"Pad, I thought I had lost you. Thank you...thank you for everything. Yes, I'll come over. I'll be over shortly. Thank you, darling. I love you."

Paddy let out a shy laugh, "I love you too, Bruce. Please don't take too long."