Author's Note: So I know that Hellfest happened in June and it's almost August now, but hear me out. I came up with this story at 2 am when I couldn't sleep on my two week vacation in Europe. I worked on it on my phone throughout the rest of the trip, but I was also working on my Tuorja one at the same time. I sort of lost interest in it when I got home, but I finally picked it up again and finished it in one afternoon. Then I left it for a while so I could look at it with fresh eyes when I went to edit. So that's about it! Hope you enjoy the Sharja :D
The butterflies that had been in Tarja Turunen's stomach the whole flight began to flutter even faster as their plane touched down in France. She would have chalked it up to normal pre-concert jitters, but she knew the real reason for her nervousness; she was going to see her again. When she closed her eyes, she could remember everything about the precious few days she had spent with Sharon Den Adel. The burning attraction she had immediately felt to the other woman, the electric sparks that had shot between them every time they had touched, the warm feeling that bubbled in her chest every time Sharon smiled at her. And that night. She remembered that night like it was yesterday. The way it had felt to kiss her, like fireworks were exploding in her chest. The feeling of her soft skin against her own as Sharon laid her down on the bed of the hotel room and climbed on top of her, kissing her until she was breathless. The beautiful, indescribable feeling of making love to her. It had been like having her first time all over again; everything was new and slow and careful and deliberate. Never in her life had she felt so craved, so wanted, so loved. And then there was the next morning. Waking up in her arms and knowing it couldn't last. They had wordlessly picked up their clothes from where they were scattered all across the floor and put them on and then said goodbye to each other, not speaking a word about what had happened between them. There was nothing to say. They both knew there was no future for them.
She and Sharon hadn't seen each other face to face since they recorded Paradise three years ago. They had talked on the phone, Skyped, and texted whenever they could for the past three years- most of the time, it was the middle of the night for one of them, as they were almost always on opposite sides of the world. Not once had either of them brought up what had happened. Seeing Sharon's face on Skype or hearing her voice over the phone never failed to make Tarja's heart flutter rapidly in her chest and cause butterflies to fill her stomach. She was never able to stop smiling for hours after they had hung up. But no matter how many times they communicated, Tarja was never able to relieve the ache in her heart that had begun the morning she and Sharon had parted. Now Tarja was going to see her again and sing with her on stage. She desperately wanted to kiss her, touch her, and hold her again, but she had no idea what to expect. She didn't even know if Sharon would want her anymore.
"Mommy are we here?" Naomi asked excitedly, bouncing in her seat and pulling Tarja back down to earth.
"Yes, we are sweetie," Tarja answered, smiling at her daughter. She felt a pang of guilt as she looked over at her husband, and tried to push all thoughts of Sharon out of her mind as they gathered their things and disembarked the plane.
**********
"Honey, are you alright?" Marcelo asked her that night as they were getting into bed.
"What? Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she said quickly.
"You've been really quiet since we got here."
Tarja pulled the covers up over herself. "I'm just nervous about tomorrow, that's all. We don't rehearse Paradise before we sing it. I have no idea how it's going to sound live."
"Oh, darling, I'm sure it will be just fine," Marcelo assured her. "You remember the lyrics, don't you?"
"Yes, I was studying them on the plane. It isn't that I'm worried about- it's more like I haven't sung with Sharon in so long. It's going to be hard to remember how our voices worked together."
