Becoming

The Aftermath

In the morning, everyone gathered for one last breakfast as a group. Tasha and the Smith kids still didn't really talk to each other, although Tasha gave Dylan a quiet apology for slapping him and he accepted it.

Dave and Adrian just looked at each other and sighed. "At least they're being civil?" Dave said.

"Yeah, better than nothing," Ade agreed. "S'pose it'll just take some time for 'em to get over it all. Probably best to leave 'em to it, so long as they don't start rowing again."

About an hour after breakfast, all of the Nightwish families except Emppu and Milla said goodbye to the Iron Maiden families and boarded the shuttle to LAX to return to Finland. An hour after that, Maiden's tour bus pulled up and everyone climbed aboard, the families coming along for the Long Beach show. With the extra people, it was more than a bit crowded on the bus, but the ride from Anaheim to Long Beach would only take a little over an hour. Aside from lingering tension between Tasha and the Smith kids, everyone seemed in good spirits and looked forward to watching the coming performance.

When they arrived at the hotel in Long Beach, however, Steve pulled Dave, Ade, and Rod Smallwood aside, after informing the group that there would be a band meeting, families included, after dinner. And that roommates would be sorted at that time... until then, they were checked in so people could go up to a room and relax if they wished, but they should be prepared to switch rooms if necessary later on.

Steve herded Rod and the two guitarists into a conference room and firmly shut the door. Rod raised a brow. "So, what exactly is going on?" the manager asked.

"It's us," Dave said, indicating himself and Ade. "Remember back in Helsinki, when that fan at the meet'n'greet asked if anyone else in Maiden swung both ways and I said yes but it was up to them to come out when or if they wanted?"

"I didn't hear it myself, but Bruce mentioned it before our first London show, when I'd asked him if Jones had behaved poorly towards him or anyone else when I wasn't about," Rod said. "Right, so I'm assuming you were talking about the two of you? And that it's not just something from back in the day?"

"Got it in one," Dave said. "We'd originally planned the Disneyland trip as a thing to give our kids some good memories before we told 'em that we were divorcing their mums, but everyone decided that it sounded like a fun trip and came along, Nightwish as well as Maiden. Anyway, Ade and I pulled the kids aside to break the news about the divorces - Ade's kids seemed to know that he and Nathalie were likely to part ways sooner or later, but my Tasha was completely blindsided. She reacted rather badly, but I hadn't worried much about it, cos I did drop a few bombs on her, y'know?"

"Unfortunately, because my three were okay with the news, they kept telling Tasha that she should be happy for me and Dave," Ade picked up the story. "They ended up in a massive bloody row, in front of all the kids in the group who were having a movie night - the two nannies with us were both under 21 and so they volunteered to supervise the kids and let the rest of us have an adult night out."

"The way we'd planned it," Dave resumed, "we'd tell the kids - Tamar and Nathalie filed the paperwork to start the divorce process whilst we've been here - and then once the divorces were final, we'd let you and Maiden know about us, so's you could figure out how to let the news go out in a controlled way. We figured since you two accepted it okay when Bruce and Emppu got together, you'd accept us once you got your minds 'round the fact that we've been together for so long."

Steve blushed a little. "Yeah... Bruce had to stop me from going off on you two, after Maisie and Faye told me and Emma about what they'd heard from Tasha's row with the Smith kids. But he rightfully called me out, that I was in a strop more cos I'd learned you two were together since before he joined Maiden, than anything else. Felt like you didn't trust me, yeah?"