requested by and dedicated to CoverVandenBolan

~ Surprise! (personalized) ~

It was going to be a great day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and I was in a great mood. Today was the day I finally told Rachel the big news.

I had spent the last week planning how I was going to tell him. My original idea had been to just tell him, but it was way too big a deal to do it without any... pizzazz. Then I had planned on asking the rest of Skid Row to help, but it took away from the intimacy. So I enlisted the help of only one person: Snake.

It was an odd way to write a song, but it had worked. I figured out exactly how I wanted it to sound, then asked him to teach me a bunch of chords and notes so I could make it into actual music. Then he'd helped me clean it up and add a few flourishes to make it sound pretty.

Now the day marked as the one for the song's debut was here-- I spent the first half of it preparing for his arrival. The band was currently in the studio recording the songs for their new album. I guessed he would be home at around six p.m. as per the usual schedule, so I had one hour left.

I went over the song a few times, fearing I may have forgotten it. Luckily, I hadn't, and eventually I put the guitar down out of fear of overplaying and messing it up somehow. I didn't know if that was a real thing or if Snake had been messing with me, but I wasn't going to take any chances.

There were thirty minutes to six. Nerves were beginning to eat at me; was telling him even a good idea? That was a stupid thought. What else was I supposed to do, keep it a secret?

There was a sudden knock at the front door. I sprang up and opened it, surprised to see Snake standing there.

"Oh, hey, Snake. What's up? Shouldn't you be in the studio?"

"I got done early today. How are you?"

"Um, good, I guess. Come in, come in. Do you know if Rachel's gonna be done anytime soon?"

He stepped in and replied, "I think so, yeah. He was just cleaning up a couple licks."

"Alright, thanks. Did you need anything?"

"No, I just had an idea for the song. A really quick change, nothing too fancy or complicated but I think it would work better if you added a grace to the high E right after you strum the entire D chord..."

"Wait, wait, wait. I don't know what that is."

"Here, give me the guitar. I'll show you what I mean."

So he showed me what he meant. It did sound better, and it wasn't too hard to play so I added it to the song. He left soon after, and all I had to do then was wait for Rachel to come home.

Finally, when I thought I might lose my mind if he didn't get there soon, I heard a key turn in the lock. I sat bolt upright as my heart began to beat faster. And there he was.

"Hey, Jan. How are you? I brought food, in case you're hungry." He held up a plastic bag.

I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't get my brain to work fast enough. My courage was failing me. I had planned on telling him then, but instead I said, "yeah, let's eat."

He grinned and nodded, walking over to the table and setting the bag down on it. "Come on, come sit. I got the plates."

I broke out of my trance, still feeling a little uneasy as I went to sit. I looked down at the table and sat, wordlessly reaching for the bag. This was it. It was now or never.

"Hey Jan, guess what happened in the studio today."

It could wait a little longer... "I got nothing, what happened?"

He proceeded to tell me about Baz getting his shirt stuck in some kind of recording machinery, much to the rest of the band's amusement. The event had passed fairly quickly, he told me, but they would never forget the look of disappointment on Baz's face when he saw his newly ruined shirt.

Hearing about their studio shenanigans made me laugh and relaxed me, and when we were done eating and cleaning up I decided it was time to tell him.

"Rachel," I said, hesitating. Where to start?

"Yeah?" He turned and looked at me expectantly.

"I, uh, I... wrote a song for you."

"You did?" A confused but delighted smile spread across his face. "On what? Can I hear it?"

"Guitar. And yeah, silly, that's kind of the point."

He laughed and nodded, then picked up the guitar and handed it to me. I took it and sat on the arm of the couch. Rachel dragged one of the wooden chairs over and sat in it.

"You better not laugh if I mess up."

"I won't."

"And don't judge how it sounds."

"I won't."

"And--"

"Stop stalling, Jan."

"Fine." I put my left hand on the neck of the guitar and took a breath before starting.

I didn't mess up, which must've been luck, because I was pretty nervous. But I got through the song without any slip-ups, and when it was over I looked up to see Rachel in a dreamlike state.

"Well, what did you think?"

"Play it again," he said softly. And so I did. Again, luck seemed to favor me, because it sounded just as good if not more so than the first time.

"That's... that's beautiful. How did you come up with it?"

"I don't actually know. I just thought of you the entire time, and that came out."

"It's really good. Is it really for me?"

"Yeah, it is. And... I have something I need to tell you."

"Oh?" His eyebrows rose. "What is it?"

Okay, here goes nothing. No... here goes everything. Um...

"Well, I-I, uh, um... I'm..." I looked down to pick at my thumb for a moment.

"C'mon, say it already," he laughed. I took a breath and nodded.

"Rachel, I'm having a baby. You're gonna be a dad."

The nervous little smile slid off his face as if greased, replaced by a look of shock mixed with joy. "I am?"

I nodded, my mouth turning up at his reaction. "Yeah. Yes. You are."

"Aw, that's so great, this is so exciting! I almost can't believe it," he said. He breathed in and held still for a moment before letting it out in an airy laugh. "I can't believe it!"

His eyes met mine and widened a little before he stood up and opened his arms. I put down the guitar, then jumped off the couch and rushed into them.

"Man, I'm so happy," he said, hugging me tightly. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," I said, hoping he heard me. I couldn't be too sure because my face was buried in his shoulder.

"Have-- have how told anyone else? I can tell people, right?"

"Just Snake," I said, "and of course, silly."

"Great, I wanna tell the guys, and my folks," Rachel said, letting go and putting both hands on my shoulders. He looked into my eyes for a moment, smiling widely before leaning down to kiss my nose. He gave me a light kiss on the lips and said, "I really love you so much, Jan."

"I love you too, Rachel," I replied. "Now go, didn't you want to tell everyone?"

He nodded and laughed a little before heading into the next room, where the phone was. I heard him excitedly telling his family the news before telling someone in Skid Row to bring the rest of the band over.

They all showed up twenty minutes later. When I opened the door, Sebastian, Rob, and Scotti were there, all looking a little anxious. Snake stood behind them, a glowing little grin on his face.

"How did it go?" He quietly asked me as they came in.

"Great, thank you so much. He really liked it. And I didn't mess up."

He grinned and gave me a thumbs-up before looking over to Rachel, who was already in the process of telling everyone. They were all happy for us, making excited comments and plans.

"I'm gonna be an uncle," Rob said, smiling proudly as he settled a hand on Rachael's shoulder and the other on mine.

"I'm gonna buy it its first guitar," Scotti said, laughing. He pointed at Snake and said, "don't you dare get any ideas."

"Do we know whether it'll be a girl or boy?" Sebastian asked.

"Not yet," I said, "it's too early."

"Whatever it is, I'll love it with all I have," Rachel said. He looked down at me and grinned. "But don't worry. You'll still be number one."

I laughed at his comment and said, "yeah, you too."

He beamed and said, "this might be a dumb question, but are baby showers supposed to be surprises?"

The band looked around at each other, all wondering if someone in the room knew the answer. Sadly, not even I did, and Rachel's question was answered with a few 'I dunno's.

"Meh, it doesn't matter. We're throwing a big-ass party either way."

"Thanks for the heads-up," I said. "Always good to have a warning."

***

The guys left a couple of hours later. As soon as Rachel closed the door behind the last one (Rob), he turned to me and smiled.

"This was a good day. First I get to see Baz ruining his shirt, then I come home to the best news I've ever gotten..."

I laughed at his inclusion of the incident regarding the ruined shirt. He was right, though. It had been a great day.

"Thank you, Jan."

"For what?"

"Everything," he said, hugging me again. "C'mon, let's go to bed. You must be tired."

I wanted to protest, but he was right. So we went to bed, and that night I slept like a... well, baby.

***

this took me so long to write and publish, i'm so sorry about that. i hope i did it right, and hope you enjoyed!
until next time :D