- eight years later -

- that's their house btw the one Nessa inherited ^ -

Vanessa's point of view

"Mama!" Dakota yelled and I picked her up as she giggled. "Grandpa Hemmo gave me a mustache." She said and I laughed at the black lines on her face.

"I see that." I said and her brown hair hit me in the face when she turned her head. "Where's Elijah love? Is he with daddy?"

"He's with Mama Lee." She said and I chuckled. "I think she's putting make-up on him."

"What?" I gasped and she nodded. "Do you know where daddy is?" She nodded and grabbed on to my shirt, taking me towards the pool as I took my sunglasses off.

"Daddy! Mama wants you!" She said and Calum looked over at us. He smiled and I went up to him.

"Hi baby," he said and I gave him a hug. "How was it in the studio?"

"Andy was great and Cisco wouldn't stop fucking with our amps." I said and Dakota yelled.

"Mama said a bad word!" She said and Calum picked her up. "Grandpa Hemmo, mama said a bad word!"

"Did she now?" Luke asked and Dakota nodded as she sucked on her thumb. "Nessa-"

"Daddy!" I heard Eli say and Calum ran up to the six year old, picking him up and throwing him on top of his shoulder. "Mama Lee painted my nails black."

"Arz-"

"The kid wanted it." She said and smiled at me. "I haven't seen you in awhile, is the studio that busy?" She asked me and I nodded.

"Very, especially when Cisco won't leave our amps alone and Keath won't stop untuning his guitar." I said and rolled my eyes. "It doesn't sound good in drop c tuning you-you-you dumb twat." I said since the kids didn't know it was a bad word.

"Someone's at the door." Dakota said and then tugged on my shirt. "Mama, can I answer it? Please?"

"No I wanna answer it!" Elijah cried right after she asked. "Please daddy?"

"How about you guys go see who it is together?" Calum asked and they nodded. "Remember, if you don't know who it is, come get us okay?" They nodded and he set Elliot down.

"I still can't believe you got pregnant at seventeen." Luke said and I nodded. "Can't believe I didn't get told until you got fat because of it."

"Hey!" I said and Calum laughed. "Dakota and Eli are my everything." I told him and Calum pouted. "You're something, not everything."

"Hurtful." He said and Dakota was screaming. "Hey hey hey, what gives?" He asked and Dakota held on to his left leg as Jaxon came in and picked her up, setting her down right after Calum made a comment about dropping her.

"Mikey!" Eli laughed. "Your hair is red! I love red!" He said and the two walked in.

"Jaxon, nice to see you even though I saw you at the studio." I said and he smiled. "Did you lock the door?" I asked and they nodded.

"Mama Lee can you paint my nails too?" Dakota asked and she picked her up. "Please?"

"Of course. What color?"

"Um... blue." She said and Arzaylea nodded as she took her inside. I smiled and crossed my arms as the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it, you guys chill there. It's probably Ana and Ash."

"Aunty Ana?" Eli asked and I shrugged. "I wanna see! Mikey, put me down please."

Soon, Elijah was running beside me and I opened the door. "Bryana!" I said and gave her a hug.

"Hey there little guy." Ashton said and I chuckled. "Miss us?"

"Yeah." Eli said and Bryana gave him a lollipop from her purse, like she always does whenever she comes by. "Thank you aunty."

"You're welcome. Give this one to your sister." She said and Elijah nodded as he ran. "Careful!" She shouted and Ashton laughed.

"Nice of you guys to come and visit. The house gets lonely sometimes, there's so much space." I said and they nodded.

"I can't believe they've kept this place standing for over fifteen years and it still looks beautiful as ever." Bryana said and I nodded. "Remember when we all first came here and you grounded us all because 'my house, my rules'?"

"Good times." I said and Ashton agreed as he laughed. "Arz is in Dakota's room painting her nails if you want to see her." I said and Bryana said that she actually wanted to.

"I'll be out in a bit." Bryana said and me and Ashton went to the pool with the others.

"Yeah, it's been tons of fun. I'm sorry I had to stop touring with you guys for a bit, next year for sure I'll come back." Calum said and they nodded. "Me and Nessa talked it out, I'll be back on your next year and she'll be writing her debut album."

"It's more punk rock then you've ever been and ever will be." I said and Michael laughed. "In speaking of, Cal, wanna know what's really punk rock?"

"Yeah?"

"You remembering to pay your car payments." I said and he apologized sheepishly. "Don't worry, I went and paid it for you."

"Still not used to the fact Vanessa is a baller." Luke said and I smiled. "Remember when we bought you everything?"

"Yeah, when I was like fifteen." I said and laughed. "When you adopted me and bought me stuff so you could ignore me. Thanks." I said and he apologized.

"In speaking of adopting," Michael said and I looked at him. "Me and Jaxon were talking about it and we wanna adopt a little boy and a little girl."

"Aww guys, how old?" Luke asked and they shrugged. "Five or six?"

"We were thinking around there." Jaxon said and nodded. "It'd be cool. Since clearly we can't have a baby ourselves." He said and I laughed.

Calum wrapped his arms around me and I smiled as I kissed his cheek. "Daddy! Aunty Ana kissed me!" Eli cried and we all laughed.

"What's so bad about Ana kissing you?" Ash asked and Elijah sniffled as he wiped his cheek.

"Girls are nasty and have cooties." He said and I laughed as I pinched his cheek after wiping away his tears.

"Why don't you asked Grandpa Hemmo to sing you a song?" I said and Eli went up to Luke, tugging on his flannel.

"What song?"

"Sing him Your Guardian Angel, the one Andy wrote a long time ago. It calms them both down so fast." I said and he nodded as he rocked Elijah back back and forth.

"Mama! Daddy!" Calum picked up Dakota and then showed him her nails. "Look, they're blue!" She said and he chuckled.

"I see that." He said and I nodded. "Wanna go swimming Koala? It's hot outside." He told her and she nodded excitedly.

"Eli?" She asked and looked around. She saw him in Luke's arms and stood quietly. "Is Eli okay?" She asked softly.

"Elijah is fine love." Luke said and smiled. "How about you go with your daddy so you guys can go swimming? Me and your mama will make hamburgers and stuff, we'll barbecue."

She nodded and ran inside, Calum trailing behind her. "Come on inside guys, I have beer and chips and the big fight tonight on pay-per-view." I said and Jaxon cheered with Ashton.

-

"Mama?"

"Yes love?" I asked as she took her Crayola markers, coloring in the tattoos I have while Elijah colored in Calum's.

"How come grandpa Hemmo looks different than you? Isn't he your dad?" She asked and Luke laughed.

"He's just ugly and your mama is pretty babygirl." Calum said and Eli called him out for it.

"Not nice daddy! Grandpa Hemmo isn't ugly!"

"He isn't actually." Arzaylea said and I chuckled. I smiled and shrugged, not wanting to butt in.

"Wanna know who's pretty?" I asked and they hummed. "Dakota, Dakota is pretty, aren't you babygirl?"

"No." She said and shook her head. I frowned and she giggled. "Daddy says I'm beautiful mama." She said and I wrapped my arms around her as she dropped her marker.

"You're very beautiful." I said and pinched her nose. She grabbed my hand and then played with my ring.

"Careful baby, it's very expensive."

"How much was it mama?" Elijah asked and I looked at Calum as he laid his head down on his arms.

"Seven grand?" I asked and he nodded. "Seven thousand dollars. Your daddy bought it for me when you were born." I told her.

"So you're married?" She asked and I shook my head. "No? Then why do you have a ring?

"Not yet. When you're a both a little older we'll get married so you can pick my dress out with me and throw flower petals on the floor to make it pretty." I said and she smiled.

"Is grandpa Hemmo married?" I nodded and she looked at Bryana. "Aunty Ana?"

"She is married.

"Grandpa Mikey?" Eli asked and I shook my head. "Is it because he wants wants to marry a boy?"

Jaxon laughed and I shook my head. "No bubba, grandpa Mikey isn't married yet because they want to wait a little bit longer. They have rings through, do you see them?" Calum said.

"Yeah." Elijah said and nodded. "Is it okay to marry a boy daddy?" He asked and Calum nodded.

"Of course it is, you can marry a boy or a girl. We'd still love you no matter who you want to marry." He said and you can hear Michael gagging in the background.

"Oh go choke on horse-"

"Language."

"Fine." I said and Arzaylea laughed. Dakota asked if she could marry a girl if she's a girl and I nodded. "Like daddy said, you can marry whoever you want. We'll love you both no matter what." I said and she nodded.

"Mama Lee, can I have some some of your water?" She asked and Arzaylea nodded.

"It's funny and cute how they call you Mama." Jaxon said and I laughed as Michael agreed.

"Grandma makes me feel old." I mocked and Arzaylea told me that it does make make her feel old. "You are old."

Calum wrapped his arm around my waist and Eli laid down beside me on the patio floor. "Mama?" I hummed and he kissed my nose. "I love you."

"I love you too baby boy." I said and he closed his eyes as he laid down. "Cal?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember when we were in the UK and I drew this on you?" I asked as I traced the tattoo of Saturn and a couple of stars.

"Remember when we were in the UK and I drew this on you?" He asked, his hand against my side side as he traced the clouds and Cresent moon.

"Of course." I said and laughed lightly. "Eli baby?" I asked and nudged him a bit, but he was out cold.

"Mama, this one is out too." Arzaylea said and she held Dakota. "Wanna take them up to their rooms?" She asked and I nodded.

I stood up and then picked Elijah up. "There there baby, it's okay. Mama's here, shh." I said as he got fussy. He held on to my t-shirt and I carried him inside the the guys talked about trips we can all collectively go on.

Camping sounded great actually.

I laid Eli down on his bed and he cuddled into a teddy bear that Calum had got for me on one of the many dates we've been on to an amusement park. I kissed his forehead and smiled. "Night Eli, I love you."

"I love you too Mama." He said and I let his bedroom, closing the door softly.

Arzaylea did the same to Dakota's door and I smiled. "You've grown up so fast." She whispered as she pulled me into a hug. "You have your own home, your in family, a career in music with your friends." She told me and I nodded as we walked away from the kids' bedrooms.

We went outside and she kissed my forehead. "I love you so much princess." She said and I chuckled.

"I love you too Arz." I said and she rubbed my back a bit. "Anyone up for beer pong? We just recently put up another table in the entertainment room." I said and they nodded, all agreeing for a game.