Sleepwalking // Sam Fender

41

Sam's POV

"Hello?" I could hear Alex voice through the phone.

"Hey man, it's Sam" I said while biting my lip.

"Sam Fender? I'm sure you got the wrong number, mate"

"Wait, wait, I didn't get the wrong number"I said as quickly as I could as I knew Alex was about to hang up.

Alex sighed." Why are you calling me then?"

"I need to ask you to do me a big big favour" I said.

"Go on" Came as Alex's only answer.

"I need you to take care of Alice and the kids for a few days" I heard Alex laughing at the other side of the line. "I mean it, mate. You know I wouldn't call you if I wasn't desperate"

"And why would I do that?" Alex asked.

"You'll get to be around Beth for a month and a half"

"Okay and I have another condition"

I rolled my eyes. I really really couldn't stand Alex. "Enlighten me, then" I said.

"You take All Time Low with you in your next tour" It was my turn to laugh at Alex's proposal.

"Are you mental? I can't stand you, you can't stand me. How on earth would I agree to that?"

"Because I agree to take Alice and your son in for a month and my band can benefit from it. You're fucking everywhere, mate, and honestly we could use some help in the UK" Alex admitted.

I sighed. "I have to ask the rest of the band about it but... Alright"

That's how I convinced Alex to let Alice stay with him. Story which of course Alice doesn't know about, she thinks that her ex-husband was nice enough to simply let her stay with him for a few days.

Having to keep an eye on two kids on the train was something that I was not willing to repeat. But dragging Alice out of our house, into the train and and out of it is something that I will definitely not do again.

"Alice, come on we've talked about this, you have to go" Alice had sat on the floor as if she was a toddler in the middle of a tantrum. The thing with Alice was that we were in a train station in London on a Saturday.

"I don't want to go" I sighed as I kept on pulling from her to see if I could get her to move.

"But you have to, come on" Both of our kids were staring at the scene that Alice was causing.

"Is mommy okay?" Asked Beth once I had managed to get Alice back on her feet.

"She will be, eventually" I gave Beth a slight smile to reassure her.

I managed to get Alice off the ground under the promise of a trip by ourselves once I was done touring. I mean, when Alice mentioned it, I actually thought it was rather a good idea for her to disconnect from reality for a while.

The trip to Alex's house was full of cries from Beth and long faces from Alice. I was honestly glad that Elliott was on his best behavior that day, probably weirded out from all the events that were going on almost at the same time.

Alex was waiting for us at the door and he quickly came to help us with their luggage.

"Thanks mate" I said. He looked at me and gave me slight nod. I knew that he had already seen the state that Alice was in and I was sure that he made no 'I'm not your mate' sort of comment because he actually understood how serious the matter was.

"Alright, so Alice is taking her antidepressants right before going to bed as they make her sleepy and same thing with her anxiety pills" I placed all the medication I brought on his kitchen counter while Alice and the kids were exploring the house. "Elliott has this condition going on with his skin that gets real bad when the heaters are on, but I'm sure Alice can handle that. If not" I showed Alex a tube of cream. "In his arms, legs, back and fingers. Well, anywhere that he gets it, alright?" Alex nodded slowly. "And well, you know Beth. She's got a cold or something going on and she had fever last night but she seems to be doing alright now-"

"Hey" Alex reached out to grab me by the shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. "I know, don't worry Sam" He gave me a small smile, to which I sighed.

"Just... keep an eye on her, alright?" I said referring to Alice.

"I will, don't worry" We stayed for a few seconds in silence before I spoke up again.

"I'm going to stay in London today looking for houses as we have to move here and I'll try to have some spare time back in Shields to" I sighed once again. "To empty Mollie's room in case we're back there, aye?" Alex nodded, surely unsure about why I was giving him that information. "I have no one else to trust with this, mate. She's bad and I'm scared that she'll do something to herself"

Alex had leant against his kitchen counter and had his arms crossed in his chest. "Is it that bad?" He asked.

"I'm afraid so, Alex" I was going to explain what happened at New Year's Eve when I saw my son appear in the kitchen.

"Dad" Elliott looked in between me and Alex. "I really like this place" I gave him a soft smile and kneeled down to his height.

"Do you, son?" I tried to take in every single feature of his face, as I was not going to see him in a long time and kids do change from one day to another. "You're going to spend a few days here, aye? With mam, your sister and Alex" Elliott turned to Alex.

"Are you Alex?" Alex smiled at him as well and also kneeled down to Elliott's height.

"I am, yeah. And you must be Elliott?" Elliott nodded energetically.

"You speak funny" Elliott said to Alex.

"Do I? I spent quite a few years in America, you know. And I've been living here for a while now but the accent doesn't seem to go away, uh?"

I knew in that moment that I had made the right decision as at least Elliott seemed contempt with Alex. "Right" I sighed after looking at my watch. "I have to get going" I turned to Elliott. "Promise me that you're going to behave, little man" I tickled Elliott, causing a light laughter to come from my son's mouth, which warmed my heart instantly. "I love you, alright?"

"I love you too, dad" Elliott said back.

"Come here" I said in almost a whisper, hugging Elliott tightly.

Then, Beth's turned arrived. "Take care of your brother, aye? No fighting during breakfast, you actually need to help Alex out with everything" Beth nodded as her eyes got watery. "Come here, love" She hugged me really tight. "I'm only going to be away for a month and a half, aye? And we you can phone me at any time and I will be there for you, Beth" I honestly said.

The hardest part was saying goodbye to my fiancée. "Well" She started.

"Well..." We both looked at each other before she hugged me tight, burying her head in my neck.

"I'm going to miss you" Her voice was breaking, sign that she was crying.

"I'm going to miss you too, Alice" I closed my eyes, trying to forget the fact that I actually had to leave. "You have to promise me that you're going to be okay, love. I need to hear it from you"

"I am going to try to be okay, Sam"