FicWad

You're Gonna Go Far Kid

Weeks went by. Countless cities and shows. Hours of video games, coloring, and Dora. We watched in wonder as Collin started to walk and talk and Alison started to read simple words. But tour was ending. It was the last show in LA. We rolled into town around eleven. The boys were kept busy with rehearsing and press. Krissy and I spent the day with the kids at a zoo. Alison was taking great joy in teaching Collin animal sounds. Back at the venue, the boys were talking about getting a baby sitter so both Krissy and I could enjoy the last show, but we declined. We had our own plans.

See it had all started two weeks ago. I was napping on the couch of our bus because I didn’t feel too hot, Krissy had Collin at the local clinic because he had the sniffles (probably whatever was wrong with me), the boys were off doing Fall Out Boy things, and Alison was over on the Cobra bus where Vicky was watching her.

Vicky shook me awake and practically squealed at me, “Gabe says you have to come see!”

Still being groggy from sleep and the cold medication I had been taking, I panicked at first.
“Is everything ok?”

“Ya, everything’s fine,” Vicky smiled. “Just come see.”

She led me by the hand off our bus and onto Cobra’s. With a finger over her lips to keep me quiet, we climbed the stairs of the bus. There was little Alison, sitting on Gabe’s lap singing along with him as Ryland played his guitar. He had her singing what I eventually recognized as Ella Fitzgerald’s Paper Moon. For being only four, the girl could sing.

When the song was over, Gabe looked up at me and asked, “What did you think?”

Alison turned to look at me, now realizing there were other people in the room. When she caught sight of me, her eyes widened. Instead of answering Gabe’s question, I spoke to the girl directly. “Wow, Alison, that was great!”

“I’m not in trouble?” She asked now cowering against Gabe, who looked up at me curiously horrified and his arms tightening instinctively around Alison.

I was confused to, “Of course not sweetie. Why would you be in trouble?” The girl look down guiltily and I realized that this was something she and I would talk about later. I went down and knelt in front of her so I could see her face even though she was looking down. “You won’t get in trouble for that. I promise. Plus, you sounded amazing.”

Alison looked up, a small questioning smile on her face. “Really?”

“Really. Do you like singing?”

“Ya. It’s fun.” Her smile widened

“You know who’s gonna be excited to know that?” I asked.

“Who?”

“Your Uncle Patrick.” She just smiled up at me. I looked from her to Gabe, “You know, maybe we could surprise Uncle Patrick. You like surprises don’t you, Alison?”

“I like good surprises,” she answered, matter-of-factly.

“This will definitely be a good surprise,” I replied. “Maybe if you ask Gabe, really nicely, he’ll teach you one of Uncle Patrick’s songs and you can surprise Uncle Patrick, Uncle Joey, Uncle Andy, and Uncle Pete and sing it with them on stage one night. Does that sound like fun?”

“Ya!”

“Maybe you should ask Gabe?”

Alison shifted in Gabe’s lap so she was looking up at him. “Gabe, can you teach me one of the songs? Please?”

Gabe grinned down at her. “Absolutely, kid.”

Alison threw her arms around his neck and thanked him like a million times while the rest of us looked on smiling. Immediately after properly thanking Gabe, Alison asked, “What song can I sing?”

Gabe looked up to me. I grimaced. We’d have to find one of the boys’ songs that wasn’t terribly
inappropriate. Gabe read my mind, “Laur and I will talk about it and figure it out, ok?”

“Ok!” Alison said, now bouncing in excitement.

“Remember, it’s gonna be a surprise, so we can’t tell anyone, ok?” I said. “Except Krissy and
maybe Evan and Al, got it?”

Alison mimed zipping her mouth, locking it, and throwing away the key. The adults laughed. Later that day I found out that Alison’s mom used to yell at her when she sang in the house. She told Alison that it hurt her head and to stop every time Alison even just hummed something. After assuring her that that wouldn’t be the case with any of the people in her life now, Alison became enthusiastic about the idea again, barely able to contain herself when Patrick stepped on the bus that evening.

Over the next few days, Gabe, Krissy, and I decided she could sing Our Lawyers Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued. It was the most appropriate song in the current set list. We talked to Evan and Al to make sure everything was cool and Gabe and Ryland taught Alison the song and practiced with her like every day.

And now the day had come.

While the boys were busy with a radio interview right after dinner, Gabe, Ryland, and I took Alison to the stage and practiced with her. The big stage made her a little nervous and when Gabe told her there would be lots of people in the audience later, you could see her shake.

“You’re gonna be great, sweetheart. Your uncles are going to be so excited,” I reassured. “But, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

I could see the resolve form in the little girl’s face. She stamped her foot and said, “I wanna do it!”

“Great,” Gabe said picking her up and swinging her around. “Wanna sing it again? One more time?”

“Yes, please.”

They sang it again. Alison and I went back to our bus, having to sneakily scurry back as the boys were returning. Alison was trying to color and Collin was napping as the boys had their usual whirlwind of pre-show activities. They said their goodnights to the kids as usual and then they were gone. Al showed up to our bus as Krissy was helping Alison into a shirt we had made her that said “FOB Niece” in fabric paint. Al gave us two pairs of noise-canceling headphones for the kids for during the show that would almost completely muffle all the noise when they got to the stage. He explained that his kids used to use them when they would come on tour. I got the baby up (we had him take a nap after the zoo so he wouldn’t be as cranky when we kept him up late) and changed him into a onesie that matched Alison’s shirt (except, obviously it said nephew instead of niece). Al then walked us into the venue and hid us in a dressing room that wasn’t being used. I went to go watch the show, keeping up the rouse that it was just another night and it was my turn to watch the show. I watched Cobra and The Academy Is…play and then wished the boys good luck as they walked out on stage.

Al brought Krissy, Alison, and Collin out to watch, half-hidden, from the wings, bedecked in their headphones. Evan took Alison over to the production team to have performer earplugs fitted so she’d be able to hear herself when she sang, but it wouldn’t be loud enough to damage her hearing. Gabe showed up once she was all kidded out. We decided he’d take her out on stage when it was time.

From the stage, Pete’s voice said, “Here’s one of our favorites. It has a really long name, so
I’m just gonna say it’s called Our Lawyers, and hopefully you guys can figure it out.”

“Wait wait wait!” Gabe said into his mic from backstage. All the boys looked over to him. Gabe popped out on stage to raucous applause.

“What is it, Gabe of Cobra Starship?” Pete said, confused, but playing it off like he wasn’t.

“You didn’t think you were gonna get through your last set of the tour without some surprises, did you?”

“Well we were kinda hoping we would,” Patrick interjected.

“Well after the tar and feathering of William, none of us could let that happen, now could we?” Gabe teased. “This is me just letting you know that there’s a surprise for you while you play this song. Just so you’re aware.” And Gabe walked off the stage, not saying anything more.

“Wait! Gabe!” The boys exchanged nervous glances. Pete said into the microphone, “Now I’m actually nervous.”

“Well maybe you’ll think twice about dumping honey and feathers all over a person next time,” Patrick said, referring to William’s unfortunate incident earlier.

“There ya go. Guess I will,” Pete replied. “I guess there’s no point to delaying the inevitable. Let’s get this over with.” He threw another nervous glance off stage trying to find Gabe, but, as he expected, Gabe had disappeared.

Gabe had crouched down behind some stage equipment where Alison was standing. As the intro to the song started, Gabe asked, “Ready?”

She nodded. Gabe stood up and took her hand and they started walking toward the stage. Gabe gave Alison a nudge when it was time for the words to start and she opened her mouth and started singing into the mic at the same time that Patrick did. The boys could hear something different and began to look around wildly trying to identify the change and continue to play the song. When the crowd caught sight of Gabe leading the four year old out onstage who was singing into a microphone, they started to coo. The boys looked over. I almost melted at the look that came across Patrick’s face when he saw his niece singing along to his song.

Patrick’s guitar part dropped out of the song and Pete took over the vocals as Patrick pushed his guitar out of the way so it was hanging from his back and knelt down. Alison stopped singing, let go of Gabe’s hand, and ran to her uncle who hugged her and stood up. Pete, Joe, and Andy kept repeating some filler for a while.

Being four, Alison didn’t really understand the whole concept of a microphone. For the whole arena to hear, she said to her uncle, “I learn-ed your song Uncle Patrick.”

The crowd awed and Patrick kissed her forehead. “Thank you, Ali. Wanna help me finish singing it?”

Alison nodded and the crowd roared. It was obvious that Patrick would not be putting his niece down, so Evan ran out to take his guitar and Ryland strapped up to take over Patrick’s guitar part. They stood and sang the rest of the song. When the song was over, over the sound of the screaming crowd, I could hear Alison say, “Did I sing it right?”

The crowd seemed to yell louder. “Ya, Ali. You sang it perfect.”

“Were you surprised?” When Patrick nodded, she continued, “We wanted to surprise everyone.”

“We’re very surprised, little,” Joe said into the mic.

“Ok, little Miss Ali,” Gabe said, coming back on stage with his microphone and Patrick’s guitar, “Time to let your uncles get back to entertaining these nice people. Go hug the rest of them.”

Patrick set her down and took his guitar from Gabe as Alison ran around to all of the boys giving out hugs. She returned to hug Patrick again before she let Gabe lead her off stage.
Before they were completely out of sight of the crowd, Gabe leaned down and whispered something into her ear. They stopped walking and Alison faced the crowd with a big smile on her face,
waved, and said, “Goodnight everybody!”

Together the crowd screamed back “Goodnight!” and Gabe took her the rest of the way off stage. After putting her protective headphones back on, Alison got hugs from almost everyone on tour. They had all come out to see her sing with her uncles. As soon as the boys got off stage, Alison was again whisked up into hugs and compliments from her favorite people. Someone from their publicity team took pictures of Patrick with Alison, Alison with the band, Alison and Collin with the band, and Alison and Collin with Patrick. Then we were finally told we could go back to the bus.

Patrick was carrying a very sleepy Alison and I had a fast asleep Collin as we all walked
through the parking lot. Alison asked, “Is it bedtime yet?”

“Not quite yet. It’s the last day. We’re going home in a little bit, but we need to say goodbye
to everyone,” Patrick answered her.

Sure enough, everyone was gathered at ‘headquarters.’ They had held off on the party that was obviously about to occur so everyone could say goodbye to the kids, Patrick, and me. We had previously decided that Patrick and I would take the kids home to get them settled in an actual house after the last show, while the rest of them were free to stay at the party. After goodbyes, we loaded the kids into a waiting car.

“What about all my stuff?” Alison asked, sleepily.

“We already took it to the house. It’ll be there when we get there,” I told her as I buckled Collin into his car seat. The ride to Patrick’s house was shorter than I expected, but by the time we got there, Alison was hardcore asleep. Patrick expertly juggled the sleeping girl and unlocking the door without waking her. I followed Patrick into the house, up the stairs, and into the first door on the right. There was a crib there with all of Collin’s stuff. I was expecting a bare room with the Pack-N-Play Collin had been sleeping in for the last three months. I looked at Patrick who just smiled and shrugged. I put Collin down and then we left the room. We went into the room across the hall. Patrick didn’t turn the lights on, he just pulled back the covers on the white framed twin bed and put Alison down. He took of her shoes and slid off her jeans, leaving her to sleep in her FOB Niece shirt. He tucked her in, kissed her forehead, and we left the room.

A/N: I love summer. It means I get to write more. K hope you enjoy =)