I remember when we were on our very last tour. We sat in the hotel breakfast room, halfway around the world and nobody had said a word. I looked around at my bandmates and our families. It was Aya's 13th birthday, and everybody looked defeated.

For 18 years, with only a few short breaks we had been on the road or in the studio or somehow in the media spotlight.

I met Aya's gaze with a smile.

"What do you want to do today?" I asked.

"I want a normal birthday. With normal friends and a normal birthday party with a homemade cake," she sighed.

Ethan looked at her.

"Well... I'm sure we can get the cake bit, Buttercup..." he smiled.

"Mum! Make him stop... he's being all... Dad again," Aya commented.

It felt all wrong. My daughter should not feel this down on her birthday.

"Well... We have a TV-interview this morning," Simon started.

"And you want me to stay here with the kids. I know," she muttered.

"Actually, today we want you to come with us," Simon smiled.

"Do I have to?" she huffed.

"No... Don't have to... I just think Marco Turner might be a bit disappointed if you don't," Oddball grinned.

"Marco? As in Marco?" Ayame asked suddenly excited.

She had been singing this guy's praises since he first had a hit two years earlier. He was a cute teen boy who easily filled the teen-criteria with his rough around the edges look and charming smile. He reminded me of a young Simon.

An hour later we were in the dressing room. I was sat getting my make up done by a girl I'd met five minutes earlier. All part of the deal. I told her what I wanted, and she seemed to know what she was doing.
Next to me, Simon was opening jars and boxes out of sheer boredom.

"Uncle Simon... as you're in the chair... can I do your hair?" Ayame asked.

"Anything for you!" He grinned and handed her a hairbrush.

Simon usually wore his hair in a ponytail in public but Aya quickly removed the hairband and started brushing.
The #simonshair hashtag was still going strong. The golden, waist length mane was well groomed by its owner and worshipped by the fans. Including his wife.

Ayame took the top portion and pulled it back into a plait before attaching the elastic, leaving most of the hair free. His masculinity was saved by his cocky grin, otherwise it would have looked quite girly.

"Thank you, princess! I think I will leave it like this today," he grinned, studying his own reflection.

In the mirror I saw two dark haired men nod with matching smirks.

Finally, my make up was done and the girl left after a multitude of reassurances that I was happy with her work.

"Right... are we ready for this?" Ethan asked once we were alone.

"Ready for what?" Ayame asked.

"We're announcing a break, Aya. This is our last tour. Tomorrow will be our last gig," I said.

"Really? But you love this stuff! The travelling and the live gigs..." Ayame asked.

"We owe you kids some stability," Ethan smiled at our daughter.

"And I want to back Selma up the way she's always been my support," Simon nodded.

Ayame looked between us.

"No more tours?" She asked.

"Not for a few years... no.." Oddball smiled.

"Normal life!" She whispered.

"Happy birthday," I chuckled.

We left for the greenroom to find a very nervous young man sat with a suited woman.

"...what if they don't want to meet me? I mean... they are rock stars!" He muttered.

A squeal from Aya alerted him to our arrival. He turned to look at us before his face melted into a star struck smile.

"Oh my god! You're real!" He whispered with reverence.

The woman nudged him and Oddball laughed out loud before sitting next to him.

"Hey. You must be Marco. I'm Oddball!" Oddball grinned and offered a hand.

The young man took it and shook as if he was shaking pure gold.

"And that's Simon, Ethan, Izzy and Ayame," Oddball said.

The young man stated at us in turn before finally focusing on Ayame.

She was staring at him with the same disbelief as he had stared at us.

I sat and indicated for Aya to sit down with me.

"So.. You're Marco. Nice to meet you!" Ethan said.

Marco stared at him, then me before landing on Ayame.

He tilted his head with a clever smirk.

"It's your birthday? isn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah... How did you know?" Aya asked in shock.

"A little bird might have given him a hint," Oddball chuckled.

"Uncle Odd!" Ayame scolded.

"So I suppose, this is for you," arco smiled and handed my daughter a colourful paper bag. Inside were signed CD's and photos as well as a VIP pass to his show that same evening.

Ayame squealed again and nearly gave him a hug before catching herself.

"I couldn't wrap it up, but there's a hug if you want it..." Marco said and took her hands. she stared at his face for two seconds before throwing herself at him.

"Best birthday present ever!" She grinned at me as she sat down again.

"So you'll be cool sat here while we're being interviewed?" I asked.

Ayame looked over at Marco who smiled back before she nodded energetically.

"Obstruction. You're up first," the producer's assistant announced from her clipboard.

We nodded, and followed her to wait for our cue.

Oddball walked first, followed by Ethan and me. I thought the crowd cheered loud enough but it took on a new decibel level the moment they spotted Simon with his hair partly down.
Especially a woman in the second row was screaming.

The rest of us calmly followed usual custom and found our places in the custom black leather sofas flanking Emma, the female host.
Simon hesitated before obviously deciding on a last crazy interaction before our retirement from the limelight. He ran over to the screaming woman and jumped up on the armrest in front of her, crouching down to give her a hug. She stilled immediately but her hands grabbed his face and she stared at him in awe.
The cheeky smile on his face was enough to make her let go again and she almost collapsed back into her seat.
Simon jumped down again and sauntered casually over to sit next to Oddball.

"You obviously love your fans!" Emma grinned, her short blonde hair styled perfectly into messy spikes as usual.

"Obviously Simon more than the rest of us..." Oddball laughed.

"What does your wife say to this kind of behaviour?" Emma asked Simon.

"My wife knows the difference between the public me and the one she is stuck with for the rest of the time," Simon grinned.

"Because your wife is the celebrated author Selma Ryder," Emma asked.

"Yep," Simon nodded proudly.

"She's known for her charismatic male leads. Would you say her characters are based on you?" Emma asked.

"I don't know. I'd like to think so. She inspires me so hopefully I inspire her," he shrugged.

"So when she's written a... say... intimate scene, will she ask you to test it out?" Emma grinned cheekily.

Simon grinned.

"It's the other way around, Emma!" He laughed.

Emma chuckled at his playfulness.

"But you do support her writing," she said bringing the tone back down.

"Oh yeah! I'm her biggest fan! I read everything she writes. It's actually kinda a running joke, because I will go to her signings and buy her book and actually stand in line to get it signed on the day of release," Simon chuckled.

"Really?" Emma asked.

"Yep. In the music room at home, I have a shelf of Selma's first editions. All signed. The first one is something like 'To Simon, love Selma' the last one is 'Dearest husband. This is getting ridiculous. Your Selma'," Simon grinned.

"It's true," Oddball shot in.

"So do you have a favourite?" Emma asked.

Simon looked thoughtful for a moment. I knew he was contemplating the novel she wrote while struggling with the post natal depression. It was the most personal story so far.

"It's hard to chose, but I think the one closest to my heart is Snow. There is something about that ghost falling in love with a girl and helping her from the other side," Simon said seriously.

"It certainly is a cute story," Emma agreed.

She looked at the rest of us.

"Well. It's good to see all of you again! I remember you were here for one of your first talk shows," she said and behind her a big screen lit up to show our reactions to being told our first tour was to be supporting the Foo Fighters. I looked at Ethan with a smile. How did we ever think we could keep the two of us a secret. On screen, we were blatantly sharing little looks.

"And the two of you are just as cute," Emma grinned, seeing our little exchange.

"Married more than ten years and still no public kissing!" She teased.

"Well. It's more a case of keeping private and work separate," Ethan shrugged but still took my hand, giving it a quick squeeze.

"Is that your secret? Because I met you backstage a short while ago and you still behave like newlyweds!" Emma remarked.

"I think... once you've met your soulmate, you have to do anything to keep her," Ethan smiled at me.

"You're still such a sap," I blushed.

Ethan wiggled his eyebrows.

"But seriously. Between the four of you. You have families, children... and you're world famous. You are known as a very hard working band. You are close to your fans and will play smaller venues but more dates to get closer to the audience. How do you keep the spark?" Emma asked.

"We're together all the time. But we make sure we get time to do our own thing as well. On a day off, our kids come first, but we've also made a habit out of taking time to be together. We talk a lot. Even if it's just going through what we've got planned for the next day," I said.

"Yeah. And we always end the day by saying I love you," Ethan smiled.

"Is that the same in your families?" Emma asked Odd and Simon.

Simon took in Oddball's frozen smile and flashed his most charming smile.

"Its not a chore when I married the love of my life. I still look at her and wonder how on earth I got this lucky! I look at our two kids and I'm amazed at how they are half of her and half of me," Simon nodded.

"That's true. Our children are an expression of us. What we have," Ethan nodded.

I looked at Oddball and saw the smile didn't come from his heart.

"All our kids are loved. I think it's key to Obstruction," I said.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked.

"I'm sat here with my family. My brother. My best friend. And my husband. We all care about each other and I think that's what has kept us going," I said indicating Oddball, Simon and Ethan in turn.

Oddball nodded gratefully.

"Okay. So this tour is almost over. What are your plans? New music?" Emma asked.

"Actually... we're planning to take a break," Simon said.

"A break?" Emma asked.

"Yeah. We're leaving the music behind. At least in part and we are doing other things," Oddball smiled.

"Like what?" Emma asked.

"I'll be working full time on our charity," Oddball said.

"That would be Elsie's Obstruction? The charity you named for your sister?" Emma asked to clarify for the audience.

"That's the one. Elsie was killed in a car accident, so part of the charity focuses on traffic safety with a fund for injured children. The other part is a collaboration with UNICEF to build schools and generally improve lives for children growing up in the slums," Oddball said.

"Because your two children were adopted from the slums of Brazil," Emma clarified again.

"Yes. Those two are my world but I keep thinking back to all the other kids I couldn't take with me," He nodded.

"So your work will be continuing to work for children in difficult situations?" Emma asked.

Oddball nodded.

"About your children. You are a single parent. Do you ever miss having someone to share the responsibility with? Like your bandmates have?" Emma asked, hitting Oddball in a very sore spot.

I caught his eye, seeing he didn't want to answer.

"As long as we have all been a team on the road we have all more or less raised all the children together, but I think we can also admit that the rest of us would love for Oddball to find someone to love," I answered on his behalf.

"Odd does a beautiful job as a father. His kids are the best behaved out of the bunch!" Simon chuckled.

Oddball smiled at the two of us.

"I'm used to being single, but with these guys around, I'm never alone," Oddball said.

"So how about the rest of you? What are you going to do?" Emma asked.

"Izzy is working with me, designing campaign material for Elsie's Obstruction," Oddball said.

"Yeah. He's not getting rid of me!" I grinned.

"And hopefully you'll be able to paint and finally hold that exhibition you've always dreamed of," Ethan said.

"That would be nice!" I smiled.

"And Simon will be going with Selma to Literary festivals playing Fanboy and collecting autographs," Oddball grinned at Simon who nodded enthusiastically.

"She's holding a speech in Norway in May with Audrey Niffenegger, And she's attending the Wattpad convention in New York in October," Simon grinned.

"You have it all planned out haven't you?" I teased.

"Yeah!" He laughed.

"How about you Ethan?" Emma asked.

"I'll still be messing around with music. I might take up teaching," he shrugged.

"Or he might just take up the offer of a place in the local philharmonic..." I stage whispered and got a "shuussh!" back.

"Anyway. It's been nice having you back here! I wish you luck with whatever you end up doing in your break. In a moment I'll be speaking with the new rising star, Marco Turner before we will be seeing you again at the end of the show playing your latest hit "In shadows". Obstruction, Ladies and gentlemen!" Emma cheered and we shook her hand before walking over to set up for playing.

Marco was introduced and sat chatting with Emma about his experiences as a new star.

"I mean. I'm still starstruck. I met Obstruction backstage and I've been a fan of theirs since childhood!" He chuckled.

"Which means you understand how your fans feel when meeting you?" Emma asked him.

"Kinda... I still don't get how they can get starstruck over me! I'm just a normal kid with a guitar!" he smiled.

"Have you got anything to say to your fans?" Emma asked.

"Well I do have a special message to one girl. She's right here at the moment, and she's the daughter of my own idols. Ayame Ryder, Happy 13th birthday!" he smiled into the camera and another camera flicked over to us on stage where Aya was stood next to me.

Her hands went to cover her face before she decided to own it and waved back to him in thanks.

Once our stint on TV was done we piled into the taxi and went back to the hotel. We entered the suite lounge to see Selma with tears in her eyes as she spotted Simon.

"You adorable dork!" she whispered and slapped his chest.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Snow is sold out at Amazon," she said.

"It's your turn to shine, baby!" he grinned.

***

Sorry for taking so long to update. I have been busy with A Woman's Best Friend, my take on a werewolf story.

But I have decided to try to finish this story quite quickly, because it's been on my mind.

Teaser: In the present, Obstruction are holding their reunion gig. Will Izzy hold it together?