Changed Since Texas / Post Malone

7.5

2 years later

"I promise I swear to you I'll be okay, you're only the love of my life" Austin sang loudly to the crowd in Dublin, his head turning towards the side of the stage as he pointed at me and gave me a wink before heading back towards the front of the stage. I couldn't help but smile as I watched him work the stage, so happy that all of his dreams had come true.

So much had changed not only for him but for us since the day that he arrived at the hospital when Tabitha was born. I was at a spot where I didn't even know if I was going to see him again, completely unsure if my kids were going to have a Dad. But, when he came to my bedside that day I instantly knew that things were going to change for us. I don't know how, but I just had this feeling that we were on our way towards working back to where we were. He had come a long way in the Dad department, being everything that I could hope for for our kids. I could still see him struggling from time to time, trying to balance the demands with Dre and his career as well as still be a present fixture in our lives, but I constantly reminded him how much we appreciated him for taking care of us and told him how much I loved how hard he was working to spend time with our kids. I never wanted his efforts to go left unnoticed.

As for me, I worked harder than ever on my trust issues that I had developed from the whole Ashlen situation and Kano situation. He understood my struggles and he often had to reassure me daily that he was happy with where he was and that he was happy with me and even though we still may disagree on things, it wouldn't change the fact that he wanted to still be with me. I knew that sometimes it bothered him, he would often retreat to his music room instead of repeating himself that I was perfect for him and instead of me chasing after him I worked on being confident in his words and trusting him instead of making him constantly play his reassurances on a loop. We weren't perfect, but we were definitely in a much better state than we were before.

I would have to credit our successes much in part to his Stoney tour. We had made the decision together that we didn't think that atmosphere was suitable for Austy and Tabitha so I stayed home with Doris--who had agreed to come back and work for us as long as I was there--while he completed his thirty stop tour. It was harder than I thought it was going to be, but Doris had offered to watch the kids a few times so I could go to the bigger cities and watch him perform and spend some much needed time with him. I was grateful for her because even though we made it work through late night and early morning calls to each other, we needed that time together.

"Hey baby" I smiled, as he quickly walked off of the stage for his very brief five minutes for a breather. He wrapped his arms around me, my hands drifting up to wrap around his neck as he pressed his lips tightly against mine.

"I love you Char" he said quietly before bending down and wrapping his arms around Tabitha and Austy as he placed a kiss on both of their heads. "I love you guys so much" he said before standing back up, Tabitha begging to be lifted in his arms as I gently pulled her away from him.

"I'm going to take them to the bus, baby. Have fun and I'll see you soon okay? Love you" I smiled, his own lips turning up at the corners as he reached his hand out, his thumb lightly brushing over my cheek before he started to make his way back towards the stage. I watched for a few more minutes as he sat on a stool fiddling with the chords on his guitar, the crowd going wild as he played something random as his beautiful laugh that always melted my heart soared through the mic and filled the stadium.

"So this song" he said with a laugh, his head shaking slightly as he ran his hand over the frizzy parts of his hair that had somehow dislodged themselves from his bun. "This song I wrote after the hardships that I went through with a very special person" he said, the crowd cheering loudly as he fidgeted nervously on his chair. "Ladies and gentleman, this is Stay" he said, the crowd erupting into a fit of screams as the beginning chords to our song floated across the sold out stadium.