I changed this whole chapter!! meaning, I rewrote it. hope y'all like the updates I made.

   VALERIE AWOKE WITH a start to Roger Taylor hitting her in the head with a pillow. It was four in the morning.

"Bloody hell, Rog, what the fuck are you doing?!" Valerie yelled as she kicked him in the shin.

"You've got to get up, love. Airport, remember?" Roger said as he whacked her once more for good measure.

Valerie sat up and grabbed the pillow from Roger, smacking him. He fell off the bed in surprise, making a loud clatter.

     "How'd you even get in here?"

     "I spent the night. You said I could, remember?"

     "Obviously not, or else I wouldn't have kicked you. Well, I would've, just not as hard." Valerie said with a slight smile as she stretched, looking down at Roger who was still pathetically splayed on the floor.

"Oh, you would've kicked me harder. Now, get dressed! We've got to leave in about thirty minutes to get Freddie and go to the airport." Roger said as he stood, taking the pillow and tossing it to her.

"Okay okay, get out then. And do you have your bags? I don't want to be driving all over town." Valerie told Roger as she got out of her bed and went over to her closet to select a sweater to wear.

"Of course I have my bags. They're designer."

"Yeah, secondhand designer. Get out, Roger." Valerie said with a chuckle as Roger scoffed sarcastically.

"You wish you had second hand designer." He retorted as he closed the door behind him as he walked out of the room.

Valerie rolled her eyes and slipped out of her pajamas, which were really comprised of a worn out shirt and pants with cartoon dogs on them.

"Make sure you wear something to impress John!" Roger called from the closed door. Valerie rolled her eyes and stuck her middle finger up at him, though of course, he couldn't see her.

She laughed a bit to herself feeling a bit fluttery at the thought of seeing John, though she had seen him just the day before.

She didn't want to seem like she was trying too hard, so she changed into a simply green sweater and bell bottom jeans, hurrying into the bathroom to wash her face and brush on a bit of makeup.

When she was done, it was nearly time to leave. She made herself some toast quickly and stood next to the couch where Roger was waiting for her.

"Ready?" Valerie asked as she took a bite out of her (slightly burnt) toast.

"Of course I am. I'm always ready." Roger said, and Valerie snorted with laughter.

"Oi, sod off. I can be prepared when I wanna be. Now let's go." Roger said as he grabbed his luggage and linked his arm through Valerie's. Valerie turned off the lamp that had been on and grabbed her keys and coat from the coat rack, closing her apartment door behind her as she rested her coat in the crook of her free elbow.

"Right, onward." Valerie said with a smile at Roger as they walked out into the still slightly frigid weather.
*****

   "Freddie, what do you possibly need from the airport shop?" Valerie asked as Freddie held up a snow globe with a miniature version of Big Ben.

"What don't I possibly need from the airport shop? They have everything here!" Freddie exclaimed as he grabbed a rather horrific blouse off of the rack and offered it to Valerie.

    "This might look good with your hair." He suggested, practically throwing the wonderfully barf shade of green blouse at her.

    "I'm hurt. This blouse is awful." Valerie said with a slight laugh as she put the blouse back in the rack. It was such an odd thing to find at an airport shop.

     "Y'know,  I beg to differ. I think that really would look good with your hair." John said as he came up behind Valerie, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. 

    Valerie rolled her eyes as she lightly leaned into John's touch slightly. "Oh please, you think everything looks good on me."

    "Well, it does!" John told her as Valerie grabbed another blouse off of the rack and turned around to hold it up to John. It was a bright red.

    "Fred, what do you think? Should John get this for your next concert?" Valerie asked, one of her hands lightly pressed against John's chest to hold the garment up to him. Her other hand had a finger lightly hooked through his belt loop, pulling him toward her slightly.

   "Oh, of course. Suits him quite nicely." Freddie teased, winking at John who was already nearly as red as the shirt.

   "See, Freddie agrees. It'll look great on you, John." Valerie joked, her cheeks flushing slightly when John took her hand that was resting on his chest and intertwined his fingers with hers.

   "Fine, fine. I'll buy it. But I'm only wearing it once." John said, pretending to be mad. Freddie rolled his eyes.

   "Darling, your style is so drab from time to time. A little colour could be a good thing." Freddie said we he took the shirt from John.

   "I'm paying for it, love. My treat." Freddie told John, patting him on the shoulder. He loved to make fun of John in front of Valerie. He liked seeing him become more flustered than he already was.

   John turned to Valerie was was about to say something when she laughed. "Your outfits are a bit dull,"

   "Valerie, how could you side with him?" John asked, feigning hurt, dropping her hand and turning away to go look at the snow globes.

   "Johnny, baby, I don't mean it." Valerie said as she walked after him, trying to contain her laughter. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him from behind, her head resting between his shoulder blades.

Neither of them could see Roger trying to contain his laughter, and Brian coming in a rolling his eyes. It was always these gestures of affection that made the rest of the band wonder why they weren't dating yet.

"No, you meant it. You do that all the time." John said, making it a point to try to ignore Valerie's arms wrapped around him.

"I don't mean it, though." Valerie said, taking her arms from around his waist and walking in front of him, leaning herself on the counter before him so he looked at her.

"You know I don't." She said sincerely, smiling at him. John leaned forward slightly, and Valerie's heart fluttered a but before Brian came up behind John, placing a hand in his shoulder.

"Morning, John. See Freddie dragged you into the store as well?" Brian asked, and Valerie felt a twinge of annoyance that Brian had interrupted the moment.

     "Oh, of course. It's Freddie, after all. Have a good night out?" He asked Brian, moving back slightly and looking at Valerie. Valerie furrowed her brows before she remembered.

     "Oh, yes! We met Elton John." Valerie said casually.

    "You're shitting me." Roger said from across the store. Clearly he had heard Valerie. The store employees and people around him gave him looks.

    "No, we really did. He was incredibly kind."

    "Valerie professed her love for him. It was quite hilarious." Brian teased, and Valerie scoffed, blushing as she hit him in the arm lightly.

"He's amazing, Bri. You aren't allowed to make fun of me." Valerie mumbled with a laugh, her face against the sleeve of his jacket.

"Yes I am," Brian said as he poked Valerie in the ribs making her jerk away from him. She was very ticklish.

"Says who?"

"Me," Brian concluded, lightly flicking Valerie in the forehead.

"Children, please. Save it for the schoolyard. Let's get some coffee." Freddie laughed, his carry on bag already stuffed with stuff he was bringing and that he'd bought.

"Sure, sure. I need it. Roger woke me up at an ungodly hour this morning." Valerie huffed, gutting Roger in the arm. He rolled his eyes.

"You were my ride to the airport. And Freddie's, too. Can't have you waking up late when you're chauffeuring someone that important." Roger said, nodding at her. Freddie grinned.

"Oh, yes, darling, we can't have you waking up late for me." Freddie said very seriously as they made their way across the wide hall to the coffee shop, everyone turning to ogle them and ask for their autographs. Luckily, the band had security walking along with them.

    "Of course not. Although, I would get a better driver if I were you." Valerie urged with a light laugh as she sat in a chair near the back of the tiny shop.

    "Definitely. Valerie is a horrible driver." John agreed, and Valerie hit his leg lightly, scoffing.

    "I second that. Valerie is awful at driving." Brian agreed as he walked past the table to the counter to order himself a coffee.

    "Brian and John don't know what they're talking about. I am an amazing driver." Valerie stares proudly, deflating slightly when John reached over to lightly tickle her neck. He was sitting next to her, almost as if he didn't want to leave for a second to get coffee.

     "Oi, no." Valerie said, lightly smacking his hand away from her, only to have him reach over with the other hand.

    This resulted in giggles and laughter erupting from both of them as they fought to stay in their chairs while all the while poking the other. The end result was John intertwining his fingers with Valerie's to get her to stop.

    "There," he said, lightly kissing her knuckles before he settled their intertwined fingers against his thigh, Valerie scooting closer to him.

   The band had come back with their coffee. Brian has been kind enough to buy one for John and Valerie, saying that they needed to pay him back.

   "Yes, Brian. Let's not forget you owe me about 20£. Take it out of that ever growing fund." Valerie chided, making Brian blush slightly.

    "So irresponsible," Valerie teased him, subconsciously tracing her thumb lightly along John's hand.

    "Please, you've done worse, Miss I-can't-remember-where-I-left-my-books." Brian joked back at her, sipping his coffee and scorching his tongue.

"Shh," Valerie hissed, trying not to laugh. She took the lid off of her coffee to open a packet of sugar, John helping her and stirring it into her cup.

The band stared at them for a moment before all sharing quiet chuckles between themselves.

They all talked in the corner of that little cafe until the band had only a few minutes before they left.

"Come on, now. I've been looking all over for you!" John Reid said to the band sternly, urging them out of their chairs.

"Oh, good morning, Valerie. How are you?" Reid asked, and Valerie responded with a very tired, which made Reid laugh.

"Aren't we all. Heard you saw Elton last night." He remarked, and Valerie grinned.

"Oh, he was so kind. I've never met him before. He was amazing." Valerie gushed to Reid, who smiled at her. Reid apologizes quickly and rushed off to deal with Freddie, who was stopped looking at magazines.

"I still can't believe you met Elton," John Deacon said as he came up behind Valerie, taking her hand and lightly tracing the lines in the palm of her hand, then bringing her hand up to his lips and kissing it lightly.

Valerie's heart pounded in her chest, and she looked at John, coming to her senses a bit. "Yeah, the odds of meeting him are astronomical."

"You should've been good at coming up with those odds. Your an astronomer after all." John said, and Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Astrophysicist, John, my dear. You of all people should know!" Valerie teased. They were standing a ways from the band that was getting their boarding passes ready.

    "Yes, yes, of course." John said with a slight smile, nervous energy radiating off of him.

    Valerie was confused, and she furrowed her brows slightly. John reached into his pocket but stopped and looked at Valerie.

    "Close your eyes. I've got a surprise for you."  He told her, and Valerie groaned slightly. She hated surprises. But she was compliant, and she closed her eyes.

    "No peeking!" John said with a light laugh when he caught Valerie opening one of her eyes. She giggled and closed them fully.

   She shivered slightly when John's slightly cold hands grabbed her right one and slipped on a cool, metal bracelet. It jingled slightly.

    "Alright, now." He said, and Valerie opened her eyes and stared at her wrist. A beautiful, shiny, silver charm bracelet rest on her dainty wrist. Her eyes went wide.

    "John, you shouldn't have."

   "It's an early birthday present. I plan to collect charms while I'm in America," he said, both of his hands enveloping Valerie's right hand, "for you. My Valerie." He said, his voice becoming quiet and shy.

   Valerie looked away from their hands and up at John, her eyes slightly wide in question.

   John opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Reid coming over. "Deacon, we've got to go. Plane's boarding. Sorry," Reid said, giving Valerie a sympathetic smile. Reid walked off again, and John looked a bit deflated.

    "Right, well," John said quietly, dropping her hands to collect his carry on bag and passport.

    "I'll see you when you get back then?" Valerie asked, disappointed. She really thought something had been there between her and John.

    "Yes, of course. I'll collect those charms for you, my love." John said immediately brightening. He took her hands again, this time slipping a folded piece of paper into her palm before kissing her knuckles lightly and starting off.

   Valerie was left standing alone in the small crowd of people that were moving to sit down around her. She started at her hands,  starting to open the note when someone called her name.

    She looked up and saw John coming towards her. "John, what are you doing? Get on the-"

   Valerie didn't get to finish. John cut her off by lightly grabbing her by the waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

   Valerie was shocked, but only for a moment, as she soon responded by kissing John back, her hands moving up to lightly grab his shoulders to pull him down towards her. She almost couldn't get enough of him in that moment.

   She'd been waiting for him to kiss her for so long.

   Against both of their own wills, John had to pull away, but left only a bit of space between his and Valerie's lips.

    "You have no idea-"

    "How long you've been wanting to do that? John Richard Deacon, you have no idea how long I've been waiting! Hurry up next time, yeah?" Valerie told him with a huge smile on her face. He chuckled.

    "If I'd have known you'd have been this enthusiastic, I would've." John replied, his cheeks a dark red.

    "John! We've gotta go." Reid called. He hadn't seen what had just occurred. But the rest of the band had, and they were grinning like idiots.

    "Right, now I've really got to go." John said, kissing Valerie again,  though it was much shorter this time.

   Reluctantly, he dropped his hands from her waist and walked off to join the band.
 
   Right before he boarded, he turned back to wave at Valerie. She waved, blowing a kiss at him before he turned and disappeared from view.

   Valerie was left standing in the airport, giddy.

    John Deacon had finally kissed her. And she wanted him to do it again.