Modern Family

Found

"I know," Jace sighed, pressing a kiss to Savannah's temple before walking over to where Ryan was sitting and lowering the toddler to the rough floral comforter.

As soon as her diaper clad bottom hit the bed, she twisted her torso and began to crawl towards her uncle, eyes wide with fascination at the current streaks of bright red in his black hair.

"Ry!' she called out proudly, having just recently learned to pronounce the shortened versions of all their names. Jace had watery eyes for about six hours after she said 'dada' the first time.

Never one to mind being petted, Ryan laughed and held her small hips between his palms when she climbed onto his lap, feet on his thighs as she tugged at his hair, pulling the strands through her tiny fingers.

"Well," Jace snorted, "It looks like you've got things under control, so I'm gonna go finish getting dressed and then we can eat and head out."

Today was fairly light for them; only a couple radio interviews at the venue and then soundcheck before their show that night.

Nodding, Ryan kept his hands securely at Savannah's hips as Jace shuffled around the room to find his clothes, every so often lifting the toddler into the air to make her giggle and finding himself laughing as well because it was extremely difficult to be unhappy around Savannah.

Once Jace was dressed, they fed Savannah, who snacked on her morning Cheerios and sipped apple juice from a purple plastic cup, sitting on the bed with her stuffed animals, buffered by pillows to keep her from rolling off as the boys packed their things, ensuring they weren't leaving anything behind. They were flying to LA for some writing sessions, which meant they'd be heading to the airport as soon as the show was over.

"Alright, babe," Jace sighed, heaving his daughter against his chest once she was finished with her breakfast and the room was cleared of all personal items. "Let's rock and roll."

Because Jace was still at the stage where he was trying to keep the general public unaware of Savannah's existence, she was passed off to a member of the security team, who carried her out to one of the shiny black SUVs that had arrived at the back door of the hotel to take them to the venue. Jace always felt really about the fact that sneaking out the back meant they didn't get to interact with the fans who were waiting outside and ended up apologizing an annoying number of times, but Ryan figured Jace was doing everything he could to protect his daughter and if their situations had been reversed, he probably would have done the same thing.

They arrived at the back entrance of the venue to see loads of fans gathered around the barriers. Fans who were too distracted at the sight of the boys to see the eighteen month old that was being carried inside. The three separate radio interviews were done in the hallway, while Savannah was tucked away in the dressing room, content with her stuffed animals and the posse of stylists around to watch over her, and that was where she stayed for soundcheck, noise cancelling headphones covering her ears as she acted out scenes between her stuffed bunny and stuffed teddy bear.

The time between soundcheck and the start of the show was always strange because the boys never knew what to do with themselves. The crew were scattered about, either resting and relaxing or making adjustments to the instruments and the stage, and the stylists knew they wouldn't really be needed until about an hour before the show, so they'd generally go out and try to get some food before they had to come back and work, which pretty much left the boys to their own devices.

"I'm bored," Austin whined, sitting with his beanie covered head leaning back against the couch and his ass hanging almost halfway off. "We should do something."

"Like what?" Jace asked, sitting cross legged on the floor and leaning back against his palms, hawk like eyes watching Savannah, who sat across from him, eyes wide as her small hands pushed over the glossy pages of a magazine, not comprehending what was inside, but fascinated by the colors and shapes nonetheless.