CHAPTER NINE : daisy jones, daisy jones

( someone saved my life tonight , part iii )

CHRISTMAS IN LOS ANGELES is the first time that Marilyn feels a true pang of loneliness. Sure, she's there with her brothers, her sister-in-law, her niece, and her best friends, and yes, that seems like a lot, but there's a Mama Dunne-shaped hole in the festivities. That's part of the reason Camila rushes away from the decorating party to grab her video camera from a dresser drawer.

"Say 'Feliz Navidad,'" she instructs as she points the camera at Warren.

He's busy hanging a stocking on the fireplace mantelpiece. He finishes securing the decoration and grabs his mug of eggnog, beginning to dance his way across the room towards Marilyn, who's sitting on the back of the couch. "Hey, Feliz Navidad!" He grabs Marilyn by one of her forearms and pulls her to her feet. "Camera, camera, camera. Look how festive my Mari's looking."

Camila turns so that Marilyn is in the frame. An oversized Santa hat rests on her head, nearly drooping over her eyes, lovingly placed there by Karen no more than a minute ago, and earlier in the evening, she'd threaded candy canes through her large gold hoop earrings. She can't fight back the grin that plasters itself on her face as her friend wraps his arm around her, nearly spilling his drink on the floor. "Merry, Merry Christmas!"

Warren tuts disapprovingly at her. "No, no. En Español," he tells her.

She rolls her eyes. "Feliz Navidad," she says to the camera, before turning to look Warren right in the eyes, "bájate de mí."

He releases his hold on her and backs away with a gaping mouth, bringing his free hand to rest against his chest with mock offence. Camila uses his movement across the room to seamlessly pan away to Billy, Graham, Karen, and Julia over by their Christmas tree.

It's not for another couple of hours, when all decorations have been hung, presents have been exchanged, and drinks have been drunk, that Billy decides it's officially time to put Julia down for the night. By the time he finally gets her to sleep, everyone else has piled onto the couches, and blunts have been passed around to everyone desiring a smoke.

As he pushes his way through the beaded curtain separating the living room from the hallway, Billy announces, "Well, it took forever, but she's finally asleep."

"She's asleep!" Karen repeats, raising her hands to applaud.

Graham fist pumps the air, crying out, "Victory!" while Warren and Camila grin at the success. Eddie rocks back and forth in his comfy circle seat, and Marilyn, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of Eddie's chair, thumps the floor a few times with the heel of her hands.

"Come and have some fun," says Karen.

Billy chuckles softly. "Look, I, uh, I'd like to play something for you, if you're open to it. I understand if you're not."

Before anyone has a chance to react, Eddie flops back into the cushion of his seat. "We're not." The cigarette between his lips and his smug little smile make the words come out muffled. He spreads his legs as he leans back, one of his knees nearly knocking Marilyn square in the back of the head as it falls to the side.

Nobody echoes his statement, turning to look at him with frowns and furrowed brows.

"We're not. Right, guys?" Eddie stammers. Still, nobody agrees with him. "I mean... Mari?" He goes so far as to lightly nudge the girl's leg with his foot, as if the only reason that she isn't backing him up is that she's distracted and physically can't. She looks up and shakes her head at him. "Oh, come on. You can't do this. You can't just walk back in here like nothing happened."

MARILYN: In the interim, we'd decided Eddie would be the frontman for the band. He didn't want to give it up that soon.

Billy's smile has completely fallen from his face. He glances at the ground. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just gonna go check on Julia."

He turns to go, and the second he's facing the doorway again, Marilyn and everyone on the couch look pleadingly back at Eddie. Marilyn hits his shin with the back of her hand. "Please?" she mouths.

Eddie relents. He can't resist everyone's puppy-dog eyes.

"Hey, asshole."

Billy stops at the beaded curtain.

"Play the damn song."

     MARILYN: It wasn't a bad song. The label thought it was, but I didn't think so. I just thought it was missing something— I thought it was missing someone.

KAREN: Next thing you know, we're booked in the studio.

     WARREN: [Teddy and Marilyn] thought a female vocalist, one with a rougher voice, might give us an edge.

     MARILYN: I suggested to Bear that we put Daisy on the track.

     EDDIE: We knew she'd been on Marilyn's record, but we didn't actually know anything about her.

     GRAHAM: Billy... wasn't thrilled.

     MARILYN: He was saying, you know, if we have to have a female vocal on the song, why can't it be me or Karen? And Bear told him, everyone told him, our voices don't have that edge. Karen's very smooth, soft, dreamlike. I'm all honeyed alto. But Daisy... Daisy's got that roughness, that edge, that a rock band needs. Billy'd only heard Daisy on Castles Crumbling before then, and for that song, she'd basically used every trick in the book to clear up her tone, so we'd blend better. But, because that's the only time that Billy had ever heard her sing...

The first thing Marilyn hears as she leads Daisy into the recording booth is Billy complaining, which is not all that out of the ordinary. "I don't even know why we're doing this. It's not a duet," he argues. He's pinching the bridge of his nose while Teddy desperately tries to rectify the situation before the guest of honour arrives.

Daisy marches right on in, barging past Marilyn, like she owns the place. Marilyn had warned her ahead of time about Billy's uptightness, but she simply did not care.

"Hi."

Teddy points a finger on one hand at Daisy, "Daisy Jones," and a finger on the other hand at Billy, "Billy Dunne."

Daisy turns to Billy, while Marilyn leans against the far wall. "I like your song," Daisy tells him. Billy stares for a long time, saying nothing, before he turns and storms out of the booth.

BILLY: [chuckles, looks down at the ground]

DAISY: [smiles]

MARILYN: [laughs, shakes her head] Ah, shit.

ME: [teasing] Good memories?

MARILYN: You know the thing about a snowball rolling down a hill?

"Could I have a glass of milk and a whiskey? Or just a whiskey, if you don't have milk. Or just a milk, if you don't have whiskey?" Daisy requests, dropping her satchel on the ground by the mics.

The rest of The Six, who'd filed into the booth to officially greet Daisy, all throw Marilyn a concerned look. She shrugs. "That's a very normal Daisy request," she tells them. Then, to Daisy, she says, "I'm on it."

She strides out of the booth, keeping her head down as she passes her very pissed-off brother, and makes her way to the kitchen. Moving as fast as she can, because she knows they only have the studio for an allotted amount of time, she pours a glass of milk and a glass of whiskey, takes one in each hand, and returns to the booth in under two minutes flat.

The band is already on the other side of the glass when she gets back, and Billy is up at his mic, Daisy by his side. Marilyn opens the door with her elbow and drops off the glasses on the small table to the side of the booth, next to a candle and an ashtray. Then, after smiling assuringly at Daisy, she leaves to join her bandmates by the desk.

"Could we turn these off, or lower them a little?" Daisy asks, pointing at the bright studio lights. Tobias gets up from his seat at the desk to see what he can do about them.

"Where are her pants?" Eddie asks around his cigarette.

"Who cares?" Warren replies.

Marilyn turns to glare at him. "I'll kill you," she says.

He gapes at her, then closes his mouth.

Teddy hits the button on his intercom. "Okay, Billy, can you give us a level, please?" he requests. Billy sings the first line of the song. "Okay, that's good. And Daisy?" Daisy sings the next line. "Okay, let's get this started."

✦ ✦ ✦

Billy storms out of the recording booth after only two takes. The first had been cut short when Daisy, suddenly intimidated by the rest of The Six watching her, had interrupted Billy's verse to request that the 'audience' go away. And the second had to be stopped when the two vocalists sang entirely different lyrics in the chorus.

Evidently, someone didn't tell Billy that his precious lyrics had been changed.

"Those aren't the lyrics that you're singing. Do you need me to write them down?" Billy asks. "Can you— Can I grab a pen?" he requests.

Daisy, brows furrowed in confusion, slides her headphones off her ears and around her neck. "I mean, I know what the lyrics are," she says.

"What's happening?" Karen whispers to Marilyn.

"I have no idea," Marilyn replies.

Behind the glass, Daisy offers Billy her red songbook and, as Billy takes it, she shoots a confused glance at Teddy. Billy reads through the page in Daisy's book, mouth hanging open in surprise. "You didn't see this?" Daisy realises. "He didn't get this?" she asks Teddy.

"What the fuck is this, Teddy?" Billy asks.

Teddy presses his intercom button. "Billy, why don't we give her version a go and just see how it sings?" he suggests.

"Her version's like a completely different song, Teddy."

"Can I ask you a question?" Daisy asks as she takes her book back. "What do you think the song's about?"

Billy blinks in disbelief. "What do I think the song is about? What the song that I wrote? What do I think the song that I wrote is about?" He stammers over his question, visibly struggling to keep it together.

"Yeah, what is the song about?" Daisy reiterates.

"It's about starting a new life, Daisy. It's about redemption."

Daisy nods. "Okay, redemption from what?"

Billy huffs. "From letting people down," he says, stammering once again.

"So, guilt. It's about guilt," Daisy fills in.

"No, it's not about guilt."

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to pry or anything. I'm just trying to, you know, get us on the same page and understand the story better so that I can help, which is, I think, that's why I'm here," Daisy explains. "I'm assuming it's about you?" Billy scoffs at her, which is confirmation enough in Daisy's book, so she barrels on. "Okay, so, you let somebody down, right? And now you're saying, you know, everything's fine, look at us now, everything's in the past—"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Billy asks, butting in before she can keep going.

Daisy shrugs. "I don't believe it. It doesn't sound... honest, and it sounds simple. And, I don't know you very well, but you don't seem simple to me."

"Well, thank you," Billy says bitterly.

"Also, why did you call it Honeycomb? You know that's a Ricky Nelson song, right?" Daisy asks.

Karen nudges Marilyn's side. "Is she always like this?" she asks.

Marilyn shrugs. "Why do you think my EP's so good?"

Teddy takes a drag from his cigarette to hide his chuckle. "She's right."

Back in the booth, Billy and Daisy continue their argument. "If you don't like this song, why are you here?" Billy asks.

"Oh, I love this song," Daisy replies. "I love it. I think it's a beautiful song. It's just that you wrote a speech, Billy, when, at the very least, I think it can be a conversation."

Instead of replying, Billy takes his headphones off and storms out of the booth, all but shoving past Marilyn to exit into the lounge. Marilyn flashes a thumbs-up to Daisy and leans over to press Teddy's intercom button. "I think this is going great!" she says. Daisy nods back in mock agreement.

Teddy, Karen, and Tobias follow Billy out of the studio, leaving the girls alone in the room. Marilyn shoves the door to the booth open and leans against the frame. Daisy widens her eyes at her. "You've survived twenty years with him?"

Marilyn laughs. "He's not that bad!" After a moment, though, she adds, "when you're used to him." She reaches out and grabs Daisy by the hand, pulling her towards the door. With her free hand, Daisy removes her headset altogether and rests it over the top of her microphone stand before following her friend out into the hallway.

"I'm either gonna kill her, or you, or myself, where do you think I should start?" Billy growls. The second Daisy's fiery mane of red hair appears in his line of sight, he flits his eyes to her for just long enough to tell her, "We need a minute, thanks," before he turns his attention back to Teddy. "Teddy, can we— uh."

He turns and walks down a short hallway. Daisy pivots to face Teddy. "Is this the part where the men figure out the solution?"

"I highly doubt it," Teddy replies, following Billy down the hall and into the room that the younger boy has just thrown open the door to.

Warren narrows his eyes and tries to peer down the hall after them. "Did he just go into the closet?"

Daisy checks for him. "Yes."

     MARILYN: So, Daisy never met the rest of the band while we were recording. I had them come in to do their parts individually, and then Daisy and I were alone with just Teddy and Tobias because I knew she'd be more comfortable like that, y'know, for her first time in a studio. So, I took the opportunity while Billy was arguing to do proper introductions. [she laughs] When I introduced her to Warren, he tried to cartwheel and fell flat on his face because he wouldn't put down his joint.

WARREN: It hurt.

Even after the proper introductions have been completed, Billy and Teddy are still in hiding, mid-argument. Tobias and Daisy had long since returned to the studio, watching television became boring for everyone, and even Debbie — usually happy to fuck around with the guys during their downtime — had taken to reading a magazine instead of interacting with anyone.

"I don't know, man. First, we're letting him back in like it's nothing, now he's got us singing songs with some chick?" comes Eddie's hushed voice from across the room. The word 'chick' is enough to break Karen and Marilyn from their bored stupors.

Karen's head perks up. "Who are you calling chick?" She reclines against the couch and gestures over to Marilyn, leaning against the wall next to Warren. "We're chicks."

Eddie squints and nods his head to the side as Teddy reappears from the closet. "Yeah, but not really."

"What the fuck?" Marilyn asks.

"Marilyn, Tweedledum," Teddy begins, nodding at Warren and the girl by his side, effectively stopping the argument-slash-debate that was bound to begin between Marilyn and Eddie. "Heartbeat of the track. Good work."

With a self-assured smile, Marilyn nods as Teddy continues past them. "Wait," she says, stopping Teddy in his tracks. "Who's Tweedledee in this exercise?"

The older man shrugs as if it's obvious. "Eddie."

Marilyn laughs while Warren, oblivious and only focused on his own praise, grins and nudges her side. "Hey, that's nice, man. Nice to know someone's listening."

"Why am I Tweedledee?" Eddie mutters, but Teddy's already wandered right back into the studio.

It becomes clear pretty quickly that even with Teddy out of the room, Billy still isn't planning on getting back into the booth any time soon, so Marilyn flips a lock of curly brown hair over her shoulder and follows Teddy into the studio. "I have an idea," she announces.

It stops Teddy in his tracks. He turns around, resting his hands on the edge of the mixing desk behind him. "Which is?" From the look in his eyes, Marilyn can tell that, despite his disinterested, nonchalant tone, he's desperate for some kind of solution to their problem.

"Put me in the booth. Get me to sing Billy's part."

Teddy sighs. "Why?" he asks. He shifts his weight so that he's no longer resting against his right hand, which he then uses to exasperatedly rub his eyes.

Marilyn raises her brows, surprised that Teddy — who's usually extremely quick to figure out where she's going with things — hasn't got it yet. "He's possessive of his shit. Best case scenario: he realises what I'm doing, storms in, kicks me off, and does his part just to prove a point."

He considers this for a moment. "And worst case?"

"Daisy and I do another duet."

Teddy raises his brows and shrugs back at her. "Fuck it. Go on."

Happy to have won his approval, Marilyn skips into the booth, where Daisy's standing behind her mic with her headphones around her neck. She slips Billy's set of headphones over her head, leaving one ear uncovered for the time being, and glances towards her friend. "You ready?"

Daisy nods, already seeming more comfortable than when she was alone in the small chamber with the eldest of the Dunne siblings. "Let's do it."

They get a little more than halfway through the song before Billy comes barging into the room and starts waving his arms around like a madman. With a smug smile, Marilyn stops singing and shifts her headset off her ears. She raises her eyebrows at Teddy, whose nod is enough for her to accept as a "thank you, your plan worked, I am forever indebted to you."

"Are you ready to record something, or do you want to fight more? I'm fine either way," Daisy says, making Marilyn turn away from the window to snort-laugh at the face her brother instantly makes.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," comes Billy's exasperated voice.

Marilyn sets the headphones over Billy's mic and strolls out of the booth. Daisy's voice follows her out, coming through the speakers the second she's alone in the room. "Hello? Hello, Tobias. Hello, Tobias. Hello..."

"What the fսck is a Tobias?" Billy asks as he lights a cigarette.

Tobias looks up from where he's been fiddling with knobs and switches. "I'm Tobias."

"Testing, one, two, three, four, five—"

Billy forces himself to ignore Daisy's constant sound-checking to complain once again. "Look, Teddy, I trust you. But I don't think you're right about this."

"I'm more than happy to go back in there," Marilyn says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No."

The older man shrugs. "Well, I guess we're just gonna have to wait and find out."

Marilyn reaches over and forcibly turns Billy towards the doorway to the booth, plucks the cigarette out from between his fingers, and shoves him square in the back to make him start walking. Teddy's outstretched hand falls in front of her for her to deposit the cigarette into. She scowls at him and pops the cigarette between her lips instead.

"She has a perverse sense of humour," Tobias comments once Billy is safely inside the recording booth. With no need to join in on Teddy and the Dunne's discussion, he'd taken to listening to Daisy's German rambling.

Teddy and Marilyn chuckle. "You'll have to translate for me," Marilyn tells him.

Tobias flashes her a thumbs-up.

"Hey, Billy," Teddy calls out once Billy has got himself set up. "There's a rattle in your mic, so we're just gonna put you two together."

"Perfect!" Daisy calls out.

Billy looks like he's about ready to kill someone, but Teddy sits down as if nothing is wrong.

"There's no rattle," Tobias says, leaning closer to the older man.

Teddy leans forward and strokes his beard, mulling over the situation for a moment. "I know."

"You also have a perverse sense of humour."

MARILYN: To this day, I still kinda wish we got to do it as our duet. I mean, that we got to record it that way. All's well that ends well, though, right?

"Okay, folks, this is Honeycomb, take four."

translations:
Feliz Navidad — Merry Christmas.
En Español — In Spanish.
Bájate de mí — Get off me.

a/n:
lowkey considering writing, like, at LEAST two other djats fics bc i'm so in love with warren and eddie like.... thoughts??

i'm posting this at like 4am and i'm TIRED so i'll edit this tomorrow, i promise. i just REALLY wanted to get it out tonight because it's officially been over a month since the last chapter went live.

published: august 27, 2023
word count: 3.5k