So much had happened in the year of 2013 already that Chris was afraid of what was to come in the rest of the year and the one after.

Thankfully, he was beginning to get used to his new routine. He still missed his kids for every day that he wasn't with them, and he missed the guys respectively. Not once had he mentioned what he wanted to Jonny. The fact of it was that they had far less downtime when they were in LA, since they were renting a studio and were on strict schedule.

They'd recorded a few songs already, one called Another's Arms, one called Ghost Story, and of course, Ink, which Chris was most proud of. The guys didn't question the mood of the songs, for they already knew what Chris had been through, and even though they assumed it was because of his breakup with Gwenyth, they still understood.

It seemed like an eternity before Chris was able to fly back to London to see the guys. It was Guy's birthday that weekend, so Phil had the idea of surprising him by having all of them be at his house. "He'll have a heart attack," Will laughed over the group Skype call.

"Serves him right," Jonny mumbled under his breath, making them all laugh.

"Can you make it up, Chris?" Phil asked.

Chris took a moment to look over the schedule that Gwen had made for him regarding her work schedule and his time with the kids. He was lucky that she was organized and good with dates. "I think so," he said, seeing that his schedule was mostly free that week. "I'll have to check with Gwen, though."

Jonny smiled and even on a computer screen, he made Chris' heart skip a beat.

"Great, mate! Well we hope to see you there. I've gotta get back to my kids," Phil said.

"Me too. See you, mates!" Will said, and the two of them hung up, leaving just Jonny and Chris on the Skype call.

"I guess I'll see you next week, Jonny Boy," Chris said with a smile.

Jonny smiled back. "Oh, by the way, I was thinking back to that night at your flat in LA, you remember?"

Chris' face fell. He remembered. It was the night that he had lost Jonny for good. "Yeah."

Jonny knew that the memory of that conversation wouldn't bring Chris good memories, so he got his point across quickly. "I realized that you never told me that thing you wanted to tell me." Chris' expression remained blank. "Do you remember what it was? Do you want to tell me now?"

Chris considered. They were both alone, and he didn't know if they'd ever get a chance while he was in London. Now could be his only shot.

Still, he didn't want to tell Jonny everything over a Skype call. It wouldn't be nearly as memorable or special. Maybe... if he just got the important part out...

He took a deep breath. "I'll tell you part of it. The rest I really think we should discuss when I get to London." Jonny nodded. Well, here goes nothing.

"Jonny, I'm an alien."

Silence.

"Pardon?"

Maybe he had made a mistake. How could he expect Jonny to believe him? It was such a crazy statement, and he knew that if it had been anyone else in the world (except maybe the other guys), they would have immediately hung up and never spoken to him again.

He felt a panic attack building within him. "Y-you heard right. I-I'm an a-alien." If Jonny could've seen his face properly, he'd be able to see the truth within his ocean blue eyes. However, Jonny was half a world and thousands of kilometers away. He'd never believe him.

"I... I'm speechless. I don't know whether to believe you or not."

A sob caught in Chris' throat. "Jonny, I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. You've gotta believe me."

Jonny sighed. "What would happen if I didn't?"

That was a good question. "If you don't believe me, you'll never be able to understand the truth about why things happened the way they did."

Jonny sighed, then nodded. "We'll discuss this later."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click.

Ker-chunck.

Flick.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUY!"

Poor Guy nearly tumbled down all five steps leading to his house when he jumped about three feet in the air in surprise. The guys cracked up laughing and Guy put his hand on his chest. "Holy shit, I about had a heart attack!" He shouted.

"I told you!" Will shouted over his own laughter.

When they all settled down, Guy shyly asked what they were all doing there, as had thought they were going to take a break from writing for awhile.

"We were going to, but Chris has been inspired lately and we thought you needed a birthday surprise," Phil said, winking as he laughed.

"Well I have a bunch of instruments in the closet that I've never used. What kinds of sounds do you need, Chris?"

So, all of them dug through Guy's closet of rejected instruments he bought from Ebay. They also used Guy's computer to find new sounds. Some, Chris liked and insisted that they use on the album, and others, Chris and the rest of the band teasingly insisted that Guy throw away.

"Seriously, who would buy a beat boxing keyboard?" Jonny asked, doubled over in laughter.

"It's not even a keyboard! It's a man trapped inside of Hell disguised as a keyboard!" Phil said.

Guy smiled. "When I bought it, I didn't actually intend to use it."

Chris laughed. "Guy, you are the only person I know that will buy a product with the intention of leaving it in your closet to collect dust and get made fun of years later. Congratulations, my friend."

They all laughed and sat on his couch. Jonny ran to the kitchen and brought out a cake, which had the numbers "35" on top of it. He started to sing and the rest of them joined in.

"Happy birthday to Guy Berryman..." they sang, building up energy for the last bit, which they all screamed. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

"Jesus Christ you guys are louder than Nico is," Guy teased, covering his ears.

They all shared a chuckle and served the cake. "Is this chocolate?" He asked.

"It's chocolate with vanilla icing. Sorry I didn't get fancy with it," Jonny replied.

"Chocolate! I might end up eating more slices than Guy!" Chris chuckled.

"Stay away from my cake, you wanker!"

They all ate their cake happily, and Chris was in a better mood than usual. Jonny was genuinely enjoying himself, and Chris got to be with his best friends for a whole week. Guy let them all stay over for the night, and while they were all picking their beds, Guy was recording a baseline he'd thought of. It was simple, but that was what he liked about it.

"Did you come up with that, Guy?" Chris asked, returning from the bedroom he was going to share with Jonny.

"Yeah, I know it's simple but I really like it."

Chris nodded. "Me too, actually."

Guy stood up. "Hey, tell the guys I'll be right back. I've got to grab a few things from the market."

"Not a problem, man."

When Guy was gone, Chris sat on the bench to the keyboard and listened to the loop that Guy had recorded. Inspiration struck him as he thought about Jonny.

"I call it magic,
I call it true.
I call it magic,
When I'm with you."

Jonny came out of the bedroom with Will and they both listened to Chris play the keyboard and sing.

"I like that," Will whispered to Jonny, who nodded.

"And I don't and I don't and I don't and I don't,
No I don't, it's true,
I don't no I don't no I don't no I don't,
Want anybody else but you."

As Jonny listened, he knew that the song was about him. It hurt him only to know that Chris was hurting because of his love for the green-eyed man.

"I wanna fall,
Fall so far.
I wanna fall,
Fall so hard.
And I call it magic,
I call it true.
I call it magic."

You're the magical one, Chris, thought Jonny.

When Chris had finished, Will applauded, startling him. "That was pretty good, mate," he said. Jonny didn't say anything, but he nodded in agreement.

"So I have Will's seal of approval, eh?" Chris asked with a smile.

Will chuckled. "Yes, I approve."

"Yessss!" He said, fist bumping the air above him to show his excitement. Jonny grinned at his goofiness.

"When Guy comes back, we can record it."

Will took what Chris had done and did his best to put a drum beat to it, and when Guy returned, they all recorded what they'd done until they were happy with it. Phil was especially excited by it, and had insisted that they put it on the album.

After a couple glasses of wine, Jonny insisted that Chris come on a walk with him.

"We'll be back later. Don't have too much fun without us!" Chris teased as he walked out the door with Jonny.

The first few minutes were silent as they walked together in the darkness. They both were thinking about what to say to the other, and Chris didn't want to start the conversation.

"I thought about what you told me over the phone that night," Jonny said, not taking his eyes off of the ground he was stepping on. "I think you could be telling the truth..." he took a deep breath. "But I need proof."

Chris nodded. He'd assumed that this would be the direction that this conversation would go.

"I have loads of it, Jonny," he said. Where to begin?

"You remember that day we met?" Chris began. Jonny nodded.

"Back in Uni. You'd crashed your car and we were the only ones who offered to help."

Chris nodded. "Yeah, well that car was actually my spaceship."

Jonny scoffed. "Looked like a car to me."

Chris sighed. "I disguised it as a car. Why do you think that the man at the shop couldn't fix it? Why do you think I hesitated when Guy asked if I wanted a tow truck? Why do you think it was dented in the front? Because I crashed it when I landed on Earth!"

Jonny bit his bottom lip.

"I always thought you were suspicious of me that day. You were so quiet and you were eying me weirdly."

Jonny didn't say anything. Chris looked at him and sighed again. "That's not all."

Jonny nodded, but Chris stopped. He grabbed the man's shoulders and made sure that they were looking each other in the eyes. "Jonny, do you know why I broke up with you?"

"Because you wanted a wife and ki-"

"No. Do you know why I really broke up with you?"

Jonny took a deep breath. He'd always believed the story that Chris had told him, and he was afraid of what Chris claimed to be the truth.

"I broke up with you because the president of my home planet, Ollama, told me that my mission on Earth was to do what my father couldn't do. He wanted me to gain power, money, and children. I was planning on fulfilling that, to avenge my father's death by doing so. But then you know what happened? I met you. I met you and I fell in love and forgot all about that stupid mission. The only reason it was brought up again was because I received a call from my president, basically threatening me to have kids. I didn't want to hurt you, but I didn't want you to be killed, either. I saved your arse by breaking up with you."

Jonny couldn't believe it. He was shaking. So much had been thrown at him at once, so much that Jonny almost felt obligated to believe him. Though, it all sounded so... ridiculous. Avenging his father's death by having children?

However, he had remembered the strange things that happened before and during their relationship that had made him wonder. Why didn't anybody from his hometown remember him? Why hadn't the man at the shop been able to fix Chris' car?

Chris sighed. "I know it sounds crazy. Do you remember that day I locked you out of our flat because I was sick?" Jonny nodded. "My chest was hurting because it was a signal from my president that I was going to get a phone call. He showed up as a hologram and he was the deep, raspy voice you heard that day. That was when he told me he was watching me. I risked everything by staying with you for as long as I did, J. I just couldn't bear to see you hurt." Tears filled the brim of his eyes. "I still can't."

Maybe it was the tears, or maybe it was the wine, but everything seemed to click for Jonny. "I believe you," he whispered, and Chris choked on a sob. Chris had never wanted to see him hurt. It had been a mission for the president of his... home planet.

Chris pulled him into a hug and cried on his shoulder. "He wants my kids, J," he sobbed. "He wants to take them away from me. I can't ever go home."

Jonny shook his head and patted Chris' back. "He's not gonna get to them, Chris. You, me, the guys, Gwenyth, Chloe, and everyone else are going to protect them." He thought about the whole situation, about how the man he loved wasn't even from Earth and how his leader wanted his children for unknown reasons. It was no wonder that Chris had been more depressed than Jonny.

When they pulled away, Chris dried his eyes and faked a smile. "If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them."

"Oh I have probably about a million," Jonny chuckled. "But my main question is... are you... are you ever going back there? You know, to your planet?"

Chris chuckled. "Well, firstly, my planet is named Ollama, and secondly, no. Unless that evil man drags my arse away from here, I'm never leaving. I could never leave you or my kids or the band, you know?"

Jonny nodded. "I'm glad to hear that, because I don't think I'd be able to live long without you," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Aw, come here you." Chris smiled and pulled Jonny in for another hug. How he couldn't wait to own those arms again.

"Jonny?"

"Hmm?" Jonny had rested his head on Chris' shoulder and had no intention of letting him go.

"I'm glad that I told you. I was just sick of hiding the truth from you, you know?"

Jonny nodded. "Me too. I feel so much better knowing the truth, like I've gained a whole new trust in you."

Chris sighed in relief. "Good. I can't wait to be with you again, Jonny."

Jonny sighed and gripped Chris tighter. "Me neither, Chris. Me neither."