Little Dreamer // Joe Elliott

ii. crash landing

With the first show day upon them, Nina was up and ready before many to assist with staging and making sure not one piece of equipment was missing from the trucks that arrived in the nick of time. Nina and Deke each had a hand with designing the final product for Van Halen, including risers that would be shared between themselves and Def Leppard. Stage right was full and ready to be on the move for Van Halen's showtime at a moment's notice.

"Hey, Nina!"

Nina turned around at the sound of her name being called and pulled off her headset. "What's up, Dave?"

"Come here!"

"Why?"

"Because."

"Why?" Nina smiled smugly, knowing she won the spat.

David rolled his eyes and strutted over towards Nina, who at the moment was perched on an amp that was ready to be moved in between acts. She had just finished tuning David's guitar and was refreshing herself on the schedule of the night to keep everything on the move. "Because I want you to test out the risers."

"Why can't you? I helped put them up already." Nina shrugged.

David leaned in close enough for Nina to see the blood vessels in his eyes. "If I say please, will you?"

Nina narrowed her own as David held himself at eye level with her. "Only if you carry me."

David reached around her to pick her up off of the amp. Nina threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his hips with a smirk. She laid her head down on his shoulder as he carried her over to the risers.

"Your taxi ride has ended."

Nina detached herself from David and he set her down on the drum riser. "What do I owe you?"

"You owe me a jump off the riser, silly." David happily paced backwards seven or eight feet and put his hands on his hips expectantly.

Nina stood up and copied his pose. "What if I hurt myself?"

David scoffed. "You know I'd never let you fall, Neen!" David exclaimed.

"You haven't yet." She murmured to herself before calling back out to him, "Alright then!"

Nina took a few steps backwards before taking as big of a leap as she possibly could towards David. What she didn't see in that split second after jumping was Eddie running and jumping directly in front of David, jumping up to meet Nina before she could actually be caught and touch the ground. With a scream, she collided with Eddie and the two of them fell back into David, who tried to run away from the collision himself. Nina's fall was mostly braced by both of them, but her face still smacked down against the floor.

For a moment, all Nina could see was a blur as she rolled off of Eddie and David and onto the ground. Pain coursed through her nose and her forehead as she regained her composure. Pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes, she willed away tears of shock and gave herself a different pain to focus on from the one in her nose. After a few seconds that seemed as long as hours, Nina found the will to get up.

"EDDIE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY!" Nina screeched as she slammed her hands down on the floor and hoisted herself back up to a sitting position. Dave stood up himself, wild-eyed and looking as if he was holding a laugh back. Eddie stood awkwardly before her, scratching the back of his head innocently.

"You okay?" He mumbled, trying not to laugh himself.

"You're considerate."

"Jesus, you both scared the shit out of me." David hoisted Nina back up to her feet. "You trying to break your sister in half before the tour even starts off?"

"I was bored!"

"My god, would you both scrat already!" Nina swatted at the both of them. "I have to make sure your opening band doesn't get lost on the way to stage."

"Yes Miss Stage Manager!" They both called to her.

--

Joe Elliott slowed his pace towards the stage, the stage left wing largely unpopulated with the exception of a few roadies of Def Leppard's own, and a few of Van Halen's. He took a moment to scan the area, taking in the sights and sounds that were soon to become more familiar as the tour would go on. Looking back down to move ahead, he met eyes with a female roadie, eyes widening when he realized that she had a serious bloody nose. He approached her with concern, unsure of how to appropriately converse now that they had met eyes.

"Y-you alright?" Joe stammered, the girl raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yeah..." She answered slowly. "Do you need something?"

He hesitated for a short moment, noticing that the blood was trickling to her upper lip. Eyeing a rag that was just in arm's reach, Joe grabbed it and held it out to her with a stiff arm. She looked at him in confusion. "What's that for?"

"Your nose is bleeding a lot."

The girl's eyes widened as it looked like she began to taste blood on her lips. She took the towel from Joe, wiping her face off immediately and pinching her nose. Joe cocked his head in worry as she grimaced in pain. He wanted to help any way he could, but words failed him as the girl tended to herself. She still stood tall, her hair was down and ran wild enough for it to still look the least bit put together, and her outfit was limited to a simple Queen shirt and flared jeans that covered her feet. Joe couldn't keep his eyes off of her if he tried.

"I'm Nina, by the way." She looked back up at him expectantly.

"Joe."

"I took a fall earlier, thanks to my brother. I'll be fine in a little while." Nina laughed to herself as she gave Joe the ordeal in the smallest nutshell possible. Joe laughed along with her in solidarity, folding his arms across his chest.

"Thank you for this." Nina gestured to the rag. "I gotta go, but I'll see you later?"

She rushed off without waiting for a reply. Joe turned around to watch Nina go back to whatever she had been doing beforehand. Scoffing lightly, he answered the question with a whisper. "I sure hope so."