It was time for our reunion gig. We were stood there at the edge of a large stage, stagehands and crew milling around us, my regular make-up girl had set up as usual and the area in front of the stage was packed. The gig had sold out in record time.

Simon was over to the side discussing camera positions with the director of our music video. He had a plan to mix staged and live in a stylish come back video.

The stage manager gave me the signal and I went up to the microphone at the centre of the stage, painfully aware of being totally solo out there.

I threw a look to the three boys bouncing on their toes, ready for their first gig and at Oddball who had somehow been roped into drumming for them.

To my side was Seb's keyboard. They were borrowing Simon's bass and Ethan's guitar for this thing.

"Hey guys," I said into the microphone, not used to hearing my own voice ring out anymore.

The crowd turned and looked at me, some pressing forward slightly.

"Wow! Thank you all for turning up here today! I'm amazed that so many wanted to see a bunch of washed up old folks!" I smiled and got cheers from the crowd.

"It's been a few years since our last big gig so we're really excited to be playing live again," I said and another cheer erupted.

"But, before we get going we'd like to introduce a brand new band. It's their very first gig, but they have been working really hard for it! They promised to make us proud and I hope you will give them the best support you can," I said and the crowd pushed closer.

"We're really proud to be supported by..." I said and waited for the hush to descend.

"Nico Frye, Hale Harris and Seb Ryder!" I shouted into the microphone and saw the people in the audience burst into applause as they realised it was our kids.

Quickly I left the stage for Nico to adjust the mike stand to his height. He adjusted it up, which made me laugh. The 15 year old was already taller than me.

"Right. What she didn't say was that our band has a name," Nico said into the microphone, earning laughs from the crowd. He exuded the same cocky confidence as his dad.

"We are after all the Obstruction kids...," Seb grinned over by the keyboard.

"We're 'Impetus' and we're here to make those guys look like amateurs!" Nico laughed with a thumb towards the side where the rest of us were watching.

"We started out as 'Obstruction of Justice', but hey," Simon shrugged with a smile.

"Impetus... We kinda asked for that one," Oddball laughed.

I snuck a look out. The audience already loved them. Journalists were taking photos and young girls had fought their way to the front.

Our music video director signalled his camera crew to film them.

"Wait! We're a man short!" Seb said looking at the drums.

"Dad! Get your ass on the drum seat!" Hale hollered, earning himself some laughs from the crowd as Oddball sheepishly walked over to the drums with a wave.

"So yeah... being short of a drummer we kinda had to ask Hale's dad to step in," Nico told the crowd.

"Oh.. and... We're kinda just starting out so we don't have any original stuff yet, but hopefully our versions of old stuff will be to your taste," Hale said into his microphone.

"Let's go," Seb grinned and they gave Oddball a signal.

They started off with fairly straight forward rock. If Odd had helped them out he'd obviously been digging through the old Obstruction cover versions. I recognised most of them and remembered practising them when I first joined the band.

The three boys were swapping between instruments and vocals. Nico was going between the bass and keyboards, Seb between keyboards and guitar and Hale between guitar and bass. They were enjoying the attention and flirting with the audience as if they had been doing this for years. I was impressed and gave my son a big smile and a thumbs up when he looked my way. My maternal pride was sky high and when he took the microphone and played the guitar so well, I fought back tears.

A big hand landed on my shoulder.

"Are you crying?" Simon asked.

I nodded back.

"You are such a girl," he chuckled and left me standing there.

I registered another pair of footsteps stopping next to me. I didn't need to look at him to knew who it was. My heart knew those footsteps and I knew without looking that his eyes were on our son, out there rocking his first gig with his friends.

Seb looked over at us with a big grin. He was having the time of his life. Next to me I heard a swift quiet chuckle.

"He's good!" Ethan said with obvious pride.

"Yeah," I sighed, wondering if I should credit him for all the hours he'd spent on teaching both our children all he knew.

"He sings like you," Ethan smiled.

"He plays like you," I replied.

I heard a sigh next to me.

"Izzy..." He started, sounding hesitant and frightened.

I turned my head to look at him.

"This isn't the time but I want us to talk a few things over," He said quietly.

I had to turn away from him and felt my face scruch. He took a short step closer to me.

"Look at me Izzy, please," He asked.

I shook my head, fearing that if I did I'd start to cry.

"You haven't looked directly at me for ages. Please just look at me," He whispered with a faint quiver to his voice.

I shook my head again, but he was obviously determined. I felt his hand lift to my cheek as he coaxed me into facing him.

I lifted my eyes up along his worn jeans, his old t-shirt. Not much had changed. He still dressed as he had when we first met. The thought made the corners of my lips twitch slightly up.

His finger moved to stroke across my cheekbone and I realised he'd wiped away a tear.

"Izzy. Once... Way back when we couldn't keep our hands off each other we made a promise to always talk things through," He murmured.

I lifted my face so I could look at his. I saw the marked cupid's bow, the straight nose, the long eyelashes and lastly the grey eyes that had me so addicted.

"So why did you leave?" I asked, registering the sadness in his eyes.

"I thought that's what you'd want..." he started but was interrupted by a screech of feedback.

We looked up to see a surprised look on Seb's face as he stood there without a sound in the guitar.

The sudden look of panic on his face melted into a grin as he saw how his father was still touching my cheek.

"Dad. Could you stop making out with mum for a minute and help me out?" he asked just loud enough for the microphone to pick up.

A general chuckle was heard from the crowd.

Ethan removed his hand with an apologetic shrug and walked out to help his son. As he stepped out there was a cheering whoop from the audience. I saw Ethan blush as he lifted his hand in a vague greeting before he walked Seb a few steps away from the microphone.

With practised hands he swapped the batteries in the cordless transmitter connecting the guitar to the amp.

"Does this mean you're moving back home?" Seb asked seriously.

Ethan shrugged.

"You have to!" Seb said firmly.

"I was gonna try to fix things, yeah," Ethan muttered.

"About time!" Seb grinned.

"I'll have to ask her if I can come home first," Ethan smiled at the boy.

"I don't think you need to ask, not after we played that boring Beethoven piece," Seb said.

"She might not want me to," Ethan said quietly.

"Of course she does! Mum loves you! You two are so useless without each other!" Seb laughed.

Ethan looked at me for a second.

"I don't know, kiddo... She's still kinda angry with me," he smiled.

"Because you just left, duh!" Seb chuckled and took the guitar back.

He gave Nico a thumbs up, flicked the switch on the guitar and drove into a test scale.

The sheepish look on Ethan's face showed me that he suddenly realised I had heard the conversation.

He returned to me, taking in the way I had flattened my mouth.

"I love you, Izzy," He said quietly.

I refused to reply, fighting back the tears. I'd longed to hear him say it again.

"And I think you still love me," He continued.

I returned my attention to the boys out on the stage.

"I'm not asking for forgiveness, Izzy," he whispered, admitting defeat and knowing he'd have to give up this conversation.

We stood quietly watching the boys on stage do their thing. My arms were defiantly crossed at my chest as my mind was fighting itself and my heart.

It took four songs from the boys on stage before I caved and allowed my heart to win the battle.

"You're right, you know," I said.

He looked at me through his heavy fringe, hanging across his eyes, assessing my meaning and reaching a conclusion. With a smile he reached out and pulled me into a hug. I selfishly inhaled the familiar scent of him.

"I love you so much Izzy," he whispered into my hair, making my eyes water up and tears spill into his shirt.

Under my hand, clutching his t-shirt, I was feeling his heartbeat. His cheek was rubbing on my temple.

"I wish you'd just come home," I whispered, maybe too quietly for him to hear.

He pushed me slightly from him and looked at my tear-stained face.

"Thank you!" He whispered and pulled me in for another hug.

"I never wanted you to go!" I muttered.

He pulled me to him again and kissed my forehead at the hairline.

"Let's see what this boy of ours has up his sleeve," Ethan mumbled and I turned to look at the stage where our boy was finishing a tune and getting ready for the next.

Ethan's arm was around me as Seb looked at us with a happy mix of disgusted and excited before he walked over to Nico and Hale for a quick message. The boys nodded and Hale ran back to the drum-kit to give Odd instructions.

Seb walked up to the microphone.

"So we're not really a pop band, but my mum sings this when she's happy and we've tried to make it cool," he said with a grin.

"Oh... This is good," Ethan smiled next to me and took a step to the side. Part of me wanted him close again while the rest of me was relieved.

I looked at the teen boys as they played a rip-roaring version of ABBA's "Does your mother know that you're out" in a rocked up, grunge version.

I held back a mix of laughter and tears.

He'd chosen my guilty pleasure. The one song I'd jump around in my pyjamas singing on a Sunday morning while cooking breakfast.

The emotions were rolling through me and it felt like I could break if I looked at Ethan again. So I kept my eyes on my son out there, tearing up again from pure pride. He was so happy out there on the stage. The audience loved them and I noticed the front row of young girls with stars in their eyes. Seb sung like he was born for it and skipped around with Hale and Nico. They were natural performers.

I knew I had to pull myself together for the Obstruction gig following the kids, but everything felt like it was threatening to set me on fire.

Next to me, Ethan was rocking back and forth on his heels and toes a few times before his face scrunched into a playful smirk.

"You love me," he grinned and nudged me with his elbow.

"I'm still upset with you, tho," I replied, stealing a sideways glance at the smirk on his face.

"But you love me," he grinned again.

"Yeah," I sighed, giving in to my heart.

I watched him straighten and his smile widen as he stood there with his arms crossed at his chest.

"Don't get too cocky," I mumbled as the boys on stage finished their set and went to place the instruments in their places before they bowed politely to the cheering crowd.

A few seconds later I had my arms wrapped around Sebastian and I heard my own voice telling him how proud of him I was.

Seb looked up at me with a big smile.

"You did good, kiddo," Ethan smiled at him, patting his back.

Seb looked between us with a small smile.

"So did you," Seb grinned at his dad.

"We'll see," Ethan winked at the boy.

Oddball came over with his arm around Hale.

"We ready?" Odd asked.

"Almost," Ethan smiled.

A few minutes later I had been to fix my make-up and no longer looked like a tearful mess.

On my way out on stage, Ethan winked at me with a wide smile again making my chest feel all kinds of cramped up.

He still loved me.

Up on stage, Simon walked up to the microphone.

"Right. So this is a small gig and you know it's kinda our reunion gig. Now... what we didn't tell you when you bought tickets is that we're recording our new video. Right here, right now. If there are people here, who for any reason do not want to be in the video, please draw to the back of the crowd. The rest of you, sing along and look alive when the camera is on you," Simon announced and went over to his place to the left of the stage.

I entered the stage and took my place by the microphone, shaking my head at Simon.

"What he didn't tell you is that because of the video, we'll have to play the same song several times tonight. The plus is that you'll be the first to hear our new single, the negative is that you might get it stuck on your brain ... Those who have seen us live before may have heard the song. It's one we usually reserve for encores. Our single will be Liquid Silver," I said to massive cheers.

The crowd grinned and nodded. I looked behind me and saw the guys nod. I spotted Ethan exchange a thumbs up with a person in the crowd and spun around to see the woman he'd been on a date with.

I turned and frowned at him.

He smiled apologetically back and waved me to him. Quietly he led me away from the mike and made it look like he adjusted the strap on my guitar.

"I gave her a ticket for helping me," he mumbled.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because she's a relationship therapist. She's also in our fanclub and all for us being together forever," he said.

I looked at him, holding back another round of doubt and tears.

"She's here with her husband. And she's offered us discreet counselling off the books," Ethan smiled.

I drew a breath, holding it hard before releasing it with a shiver.

"I'm serious, Izzy. We love each other. But we need help," he whispered and placed a hand on my cheek.

I sighed and looked at him, knowing the audience were paying close attention.

"I love you," he whispered.

"You're such a nightmare!" I smiled.

"But you love me?" he asked.

"Of course I love you," I replied.

"Good!" he said and rubbed his nose gently on mine like he'd always done.

"Let's play some music," he grinned.

I shook my head before turning to the audience again.

"Ready?" I asked Simon and Oddball.

Both nodded with subtle, telling smiles.

"Right. Let's start with a golden oldie. Our first hit. I'm hoping for a singalong. Story of us!" I cheered and Odd shot into the famous drum intro.

***

Whaaat? double update?

Thank you for sticking with me tho.

Teaser: What was life like while they took their break?