So far they'd been at work for about an hour. It took Lillie a while to choose a song to record, but she soon settled on the first one she'd written under the influence of Queen, the one that featured the guitar riff she'd played at their first jam session. Then, she'd plotted out the way she wanted bass and drums to feature. Once she'd gotten the vision out onto paper, writing out a few notes to clear her mind, Brian was actually quite surprised at how direct she was. Usually so cautious, when put in the position of recording her song she was quite firm for once, not shying away from instructing John and Roger for how she wanted it to sound.

Considering Lillie was her own vocalist and guitarist, Freddie and Brian weren't really needed, so they took control of the control desk. Usually in their recording sessions they had a specialised technician, but since they were doing her demo on the low-key, they didn't really have one to hand, not that it mattered, since Brian knew how it worked quite well.

"Look at you, my very own George Martin," Lillie had teased as he took control of the deck, her comment making him chuckle.

Since then, Lillie, Roger and John hadn't left the recording booth.

"How's that sound?" Lillie asked as she finished playing the guitar riff, glancing over to John, still holding his bass before she looked to the window that Freddie and Brian were sat behind, monitoring the sound board.

"Bloody brilliant, darling," Freddie grinned at her, though his hand moved to cover his smile ever so slightly. His eyes had narrowed as he smiled, a sign that his smile was genuine. "Except for you, Roger, you were out of time,"

In retaliation, Roger, who was sat behind his drum kit in the recording booth with Lillie and John, threw one of his drumsticks over at the window. John let out a quiet snigger, though Lillie could see he hated the debates that occurred during recordings, even if they weren't recording a Queen song.

"He was joking, Rog," Brian rolled his eyes, though he was struggling to hide his amusement at his best friend. "But seriously, that was really good, do you want to take a break maybe? You've been playing for ages?"

"Can we go over it again?" She asked, frowning slightly as she showed her perfectionist tendencies. She looked to both Roger and John, who shrugged and nodded, more than happy to continue.

As Freddie set up the next take, Brian watched through the glass as John said something to Lillie, making her throw her head back as she laughed, and the sight made his heart clench slightly. He loved seeing her so happy, especially after everything she'd experienced that morning. Freddie, looking up from the deck, caught Brian staring at her, so he gently hit his arm, and when the guitarist pulled his gaze from the girl in the booth he saw Freddie, raising his eyebrows at him teasingly.

Before he got chance to say anything though, the door to the studio control room slammed open, the noise making Brian and Freddie both turn to see their manager, Norman Sheffield had just entered. The sight of the man made Freddie roll his eyes slightly, turning back to the desk, whilst Brian forced a small smile.

"Hello, Norm, dear," Freddie greeted their manager, though his tone was rather bored and flat, not showing his usual flair. Brian wondered if it was because he was too busy focusing on what was happening in the booth, but he knew that he was always the same with their manager.

"What's going on here?" he demanded, looking in the booth where Brian noticed Lillie messing around with John whilst Roger lit up a cigarrette. "I thought you were meant to be rehearsing today?"

"Yes, well we fancied doing something different today," Freddie shrugged with a mischevoius smirk on his face as he glanced over to Sheffield.

"You haven't got time to be doing something different!" Sheffield exclaimed. "You just got booked for another few gigs, Brighton, Oxford, Reading, then London. The first one is in three days, you can't afford to be messing around!"

Brian felt his heart sink slightly. He knew they would be off on the road again soon, but he didn't realise how soon, and he'd gotten so used to their daily routine of hanging out with Lillie. On the road, they wouldn't be able to do that, it would be back to normal, except he didn't want to go back to that normal. He wanted things to stay the same, he was happy at how things were at the minute, happy that he got to spend everyday with this wonderful woman. He didn't want to be apart from her, not when her life had just been turned upside down.

Freddie saw Brian's slight frown of disapointment, and in moral support, he nudged his arm, offering him a small smile, because in reality he was disapointed too. As exciting as the prospect of performing was, he was enjoying the way things were too, and he was especially enjoying seeing his best friend and band mate be so happy. He didn't want them to leave Lillie behind whilst they went on the road. 

"Did you fancy giving us any notice at all?" Freddie asked, raising his eyebrow in cocky annoyance.

"Don't start with me Freddie, I'm not in the mood at all," Sheffield told him sharply, before sighing. "I've been working like mad all day trying to arrange transport and ringing the tech guys, and I haven't even had chance to arrange a suport act for you yet, so I'm too busy to listen to you whining!" 

The last thing he'd said stuck out to both Brian and Freddie, who exchanged a look, Brian's face caught in a frown of disbelief and hope, whilst Freddie's eyes were widened in excitement. The two of them then glanced to the glass, where they saw that Lillie, not realising they'd been interupted, had started playing.

She was singing too, Freddie noted with an excited smirk.

"We need a support act, do we, dear?" he asked smuggly, raising an eyebrow again as he leant over the control desk, pushing the button that enabled them to hear everything that was going on in the booth.

As soon as Freddie had pressed the button, Lillie's singing and playing echoed around the room, and even if Brian hadn't already been watching her he knew he would have been captivated. A look of awe creeped onto his face as he listened to her, knowing that no matter how many times he'd heard her sing before, her voice always took him aback slightly by how enchanting it was. And one glance to Sheffield saw that it was having the same effect on him.

"Who is that?" he asked, surprise painted across his face.

"Our new support act!" Freddie declared rather proudly, flashing a grin over to Brian.

"How was that, lads? Any better than the last?" Lillie's voice called, unknowing to their conversation,though she shot a confused frown to Sheffield, unlike John and Roger who exchanged a glance of despair at seeing their manager.

"Hello, Sheffield," John called, seeing their manager, forcing a friendly smile when he noticed him staring at his best friend. "This is Lillie,"

"Lillie Sparrow," she called to the man she didn't recognise, offering him a friendly grin.

"Lillie, right," Sheffield repeated, a small smile creeping onto his face, before he shot a look to each of the boys. "Would you boys mind stepping out of the room for a moment so I can talk to Miss Sparrow alone?"

His words made Roger sigh dramatically as he trew his drumsticks to the floor, jumping up from his seat as he grabbed John's arm, pulling him out of the booth as he shot Lillie a weird look. Lillie narrowed her eyes slightly in confusion at the request from the man she didn't even know, except when Brian shot her an excited look and Freddie winked at her as they left the room, her suspicions were raised.

Her heart pounded in her chest ever so slightly as she swung her guitar strap off from her shoulder, strapping it back in place in it's case, trying not to watch Norman Sheffield walk into the booth. He was looking at her with vague surprise and interest, the same way he looked at Queen, except with less annoyance. He looked down to her guitar case, then let out a laugh.

"Rather a colourful guitar case you have there," he noted, pointing at the painting of a yellow submarine that took up half of it. "You're a fan of the Beatles. Did you paint that?"

"No... no, my sister did it," she hesitated slightly, unsure as to whether Sheffield was worthy of hearing about her sister. Her eyes caught onto the painting, making her smile as it brought back memories, both good and bad.

"She's a painter and you're a singer, what a talented duo," he mused with a small laugh, not noticing the way she cringed.

"She's a lot of things," Lillie said rather firmly, not liking when anyone else talked about her sister except for herself and her brother. "Sorry, I know I shouldn't have really been here, but the lads-"

"Oh, don't worry about that, I know what they're like," he laughed, though his tone seemed to darken in annoyance at the mention of Queen. "I'm their manager, Norm Sheffield, and I'd quite like to be your manager too,"

Lillie felt shock coarse through her whole body, her eyes narrowing once more as she let out a laugh of disbelief. Her hand was shaking slightly, but she tried not to let it show as she tucked her hair behind her ears before straightening her shirt, standing up a little straighter.

They were the words she'd dreamed of hearing for so long, someone willingly wanting to represent her to kick off her music career. Except now this wasn't just someone. Sure Freddie and Roger complain about him to no end, but Sheffield was still the manager of one of the biggest up and coming bands of their era, and he wanted to manage her.

"Of course, I'm not promising anything," he told her, sounding rather firm, though it didn't manage to crush her building excitement. "Recent trends show that male artists do better in the charts but-"

"I think you're forgetting Stevie Nicks, not to mention that Swedish band that's on the rise that's fronted by two women," Lillie interrupted, trying to make sure her tone stayed calm despite her feeling rather frustrated at his generalisation. "As well as countless other women who are doing quite alright for themselves in the music industry. I'm no Bowie, but I don't want to be either, in the same way that Queen doesn't want to be like any other act before them. Don't compare me to other acts, or recent trends, I'm my own act,"

"Yes, well, you're right," Sheffield nodded, and she could see he was trying not to appear flustered, a sight that made her smirk in triumph. "What I heard just then was good, really good, and I'm willing to give you a shot. Queen have some gigs coming up, I think they'd like you to be their support act, and if that goes well, well... I'm willing to offer you a contract with me to produce a single, or maybe even an album. How does that sound?"

It sounded like everything Lillie had wanted for a long time, a chance at making her music career, but it also sounded like everything she'd dreamed of for the last few weeks; a chance at making her music career with Queen at her side.

With a small smirk, Lillie held her hand out for Sheffield to shake.

"Deal,"

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Word count: 1987

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