Becoming

Different World

As promised, Dave managed to get Ade up and moving in time to meet up with Steve, Janick, and Nicko at the rehearsal studio to board the bus for Donington. They arrived in good time and security gave the driver their site number. To their pleasure, it proved to be an end site, giving them more than enough room for the caravan which would arrive a bit later in the day. The only downside was the distance to the site's shower and laundry facilities and flush toilets, although there was a row of portable toilets not far away.

The caravan arrived about an hour later and everyone piled off Maiden's bus to greet Tuomas, Jukka, and Satu along with Bruce's kids, as well as Bruce, Emppu, Milla and Eeva. Steve promptly picked up Eeva and gave her a smooch on the cheek, making her giggle. Tuomas grinned, seeing Steve cuddling the baby.

The Maiden bassist shrugged and chuckled. "I admit it, I was a bloody idiot, refusing to consider letting the wives bring the sprogs out on the road back when they were this little. I gotta admire that you're willing to figure out a way to make it happen for your group, keep 'em from missing quite as much of their kids' growing up as we all did with ours."

Bruce grinned. "Oh, you know you were just scared you might have to change a nappy if we brought the little ones out with us."

"There is that," Steve agreed with a laugh.

"I don't completely blame you there," Tuomas chuckled. "At least I have the option to say that it's not my kid and so not my responsibility, when it comes to changing stinky little backsides. But I understand you've got as many or more kids than any two of your bandmates?"

"Yeah, so I'd have nearly always got stuck on nappy duty, if mine had come on tour back in the day," Steve said. Bouncing Eeva, he added, "But you'll be nice and go to Dada or isä when you need cleaning up, and only come to Uncle Harry to play, right?"

"Unk air-ee?" Eeva asked.

Steve looked gobsmacked. "Bloody hell, did she just call me Uncle Harry?"

Eeva clapped her hands. "Unk air-ee!"

Dave laughed and asked, "Did I look that funny the first time she called me Uncle Davey?"

"Yes," Adrian said with a laugh of his own. "And I probably looked just as funny when she called me Uncle Ade."

"When did she start saying people's names?" Tuomas asked.

"Last weekend," Bruce said. "And now everyone who holds her tries to get her to say their name," he added, laughing.

Dave grinned. "As Tamar's mum told us when Tasha was around this age, you spend the first couple of years trying to get them to walk and talk, then you'll spend the next sixteen years trying to get them to sit down and shut up."

"Some of us never do shut up, of course," a new voice said.

Steve looked up with a warm smile and deposited Eeva in Tuomas's arms since he was closest, then hugged the young woman who'd spoken. "Good to see you, Lauren! How's your tour going, then?"

"It's going pretty well, Dad," Lauren said with a smile of her own. "Gonna introduce me to your friends?"

Steve introduced his daughter - whose band had the next campsite over - to the visiting Finns, and everyone settled down to chat. Eventually the group headed to the artists' food tents for dinner, where many of them ended up in conversations with members of other bands performing at the festival.

Friday also proved relaxing, as only Kia wanted to see any of the bands performing that day. Bruce left Austin and Griffin to go to dinner with the rest of Maiden while he, Emppu, Jukka, and Satu escorted Kia to see Paramore's performance. Unfortunately, while they were at dinner, the members of Orange Goblin came to say hello to Maiden and decided it might be amusing to supply the teens with several small bottles of various kinds of liquor. The boys, who'd been allowed two beers each, got the bright idea to chug the beer and pour the liquor into the emptied beer cans, with predicable results.