Becoming

Weekend Warrior

Jukka and Satu offered to pick up Bruce's kids at the Joensuu airport since they were coming to Kitee for the barbecue, staying with Jukka's parents for the weekend. They planned on simply dropping the Dickinson kids off and heading right to the elder Nevalainen's home after a quick hello. Luna had other ideas, though, managing to unbuckle herself and wiggle out of her car seat's restraints to scramble from the van and charge at the two Maiden guitarists. "Dave-setä! Adrian-setä!" she screeched happily.

Dave scooped her up before her head hit any sensitive areas. "Hi, Luna!" he said, hugging her with a smile.

"Is gud see you, Dave-setä ja Adrian-setä," Luna said, hugging Dave back before reaching out to Ade. He took her from his partner and hugged her as well. "En tiennyt you here! Is gud you here!"

Ade smiled. "We're glad to be here," he said, speaking slowly to give Luna a better chance at picking out whatever English words she'd recognise. "And it's good to see you, too, Luna."

Satu and Jukka decided to get out as well, leaving the doors open since Niki was asleep in his car seat. "Good to see you two," Jukka said with a smile. "How's everything going?"

"Pretty well," Dave said, smiling. "Did Emppu give you lot the update on the Disneyland Disaster after he got home? We know Luna got at least half the story from being there the night of the big fight between Tasha and Ade's three, so we figured you'd want to know the rest."

"He said something about Tasha already having a problem with bullying at school, and that she thought it would get worse once news breaks that you two are together," Jukka said. "And something about the American military being against same-sex relationships and something called Don't Ask, Don't Tell being why she thinks the bullying will get worse. I admit, I didn't understand that part of it, but I figured it made sense to someone."

Dave nodded. "There are a lot of military children at Tasha's school," he explained. "Those kids learn anti-gay bigotry from their parents, and Tasha's already seen one kid bullied so badly after a family member came out that the kid in question attempted suicide. After she explained that, even Ade's kids were a lot more understanding of her meltdown when we told them everything."

"Vittu!" Jukka said.

Satu, looking appalled, didn't call Jukka on his language like usual. "How can they let that kind of bullying go on?"

"They have to catch it happening, for one," Dave said. "For another, it wouldn't surprise me if half the teachers sympathise with the bullies' bigotry."

"What are you going to do?" Jukka asked.

"Tasha's going to come live with us in London, once our tour is over," Dave said. "Yeah, Tamar and I originally figured Tasha would stay on Maui with Tamar, but once she explained about the bullying, we both understood why she wants to live elsewhere. Tamar doesn't want to leave Hawaii, but we've re-worked our custody and division of property agreements easily enough."

Luna tilted her head and looked around. "Kia is here," she announced. "Is Tasha here? Tai Dylan ja kaksoset?"

Ade guessed the last thing Luna said from the context. "No, they are home with their mums," he told her. "But why don't you go say hi to Milla and Eeva? And maybe talk more with Kia, too."

"Okei," Luna said with a smile. "I see Kia ja Milla-täti ja Eeva." As soon as Ade set her on her feet, she was off and running to join the two girls and the baby.

Bruce, Emppu, and the boys came over to join the group, with Austin and Griffin greeting the Maiden guitarists while Bruce and Emppu thanked the Nevalainens for picking up the kids at the airport. Jukka and Satu got Luna back into the van a few minutes later, waving as they pulled out and calling that they'd see everyone the next day.