Modern Family

Slip of the Tongue

He was in the zone.

It had been a while since he'd had the time to engage in this sort of activity. Generally speaking, he tried to stay in shape while they were on the road because having enough energy while he was jumping around on stage was critical, but when they were at home, he often found it more difficult to maintain a steady workout schedule. Although, running around after a four year old did seem to be an exercise regimen in itself.

The fact that they went to writing sessions in pairs was a huge help, because it meant someone was always available to hang out with Savannah, but it also meant that the two left over had their work cut out for them because she could be quite a handful at times.

Luckily, he'd figured out a way to keep her calm and at least somewhat occupied. Seeing as she was most definitely her father's daughter, she loved all music. So on days like today, when he was watching her while Jace, Ryan, and Liam went guitar and drum shopping, he would blast music from the speakers in whichever room he happened to be and keep an eye on her as she danced around or hummed along while he did other things. Jace normally wouldn't have minded bringing Savannah with him to the music store because she found all of the instruments fascinating, but they had a lot orders to put in and he was afraid he wouldn't be able to watch her the whole time and she'd end up getting bored, so Austin had volunteered to stay home with his favorite niece, saying he would update his bass at a later date.

Currently, she was sitting cross legged atop his bed and singing loudly along to the music playing from the speakers into which his phone was plugged and scribbling colorful shapes onto a piece of paper with crayons while she watched him do the workout regimen he'd come up with for when they were staying in hotels while on tour that didn't have gyms.

It involved a lot of squats and pushups and jumping jacks and the intensity of it all was doubled by the fact that every time he jumped to his feet, he was looking over to the bed to ensure she was still exactly where he left her. After Ryan had temporarily misplaced Savannah in a venue when she wasn't yet two, Jace had sat his three best friends down for a serious lecture in which he assured them that if such an incident ever occurred again, he would personally mutilate precious parts of their body.

And Austin loved all parts of his body, so he made sure Savannah was always in his sight.

"Uncle Austin?" she asked, pushing her lips thoughtfully against the end of her periwinkle crayon. He paused as he jumped up from his plank position, placing his hands at his hips, his bare chest heaving slightly as he raised his eyebrows at her in response to her calling out his name. "What's that mean? Run this town?"

Parting his lips, he thought for a moment as he caught his breath and allowed the Jay-Z and Rihanna collaboration to keep blasting through the speakers.

"It's like," he reached up a hand to tangle into his thick curls, slick from sweat. "It's like being really confident and knowing that you're going to do something really well."

That wasn't a particularly good explanation, but he didn't know how else to put it. Not for the first time, he was glad he didn't have kids of his own, because he knew he was nowhere near ready to be a father. Of course he loved Savannah to pieces and he'd always be there for her if she needed him, but if she ever had any sort of major crisis, she would more than likely turn to Jace, who was already on the track to become the world's best father.

Austin had always suspected that Jace would be excellent at the whole parenting thing and despite the fact that no one expected him to have to step up to the plate at such a young age, the bassist thought his best friend was doing a pretty fantastic job of proving his initial instincts right.