Somebody To Love (Ben Hardy!Roger Taylor fanfic)

fifty one

"Roger," John says softly but Rebecca stays quiet.

She knows that he's just lashing out because he's worried about his friend.

They look up when Paul comes back and by the look on his face, they know that it isn't good.

"Well?" Freddie demands, "What's wrong with him?"

"He's got hepatitis."

Roger's hand that was in hers tightened slightly, "Well is he going to be okay?"

"He's got to go home."

"Back to London?" John asked, frowning when Paul nodded.

"But what about the tour?" Hannah murmured and Freddie shook his head.

"We can't play without him."

"Let's not be too hasty," Paul said, stepping forward, "I'm sure we can find someone to stand in for him while he gets better."

"If you're suggesting we play without him," Roger said, the grip on her hand tightening more significantly, "You can throw yourself out that window."

"Roger," Freddie snapped, "Less of the dramatics, please. But he's right. We won't play another show without him and if he has to go home, then we all go home."

"We don't go on without him," John nods in agreement, "We're a family."

Rebecca and Alice can see in their faces that they're not going to change their mind and obviously Paul sees it too because he reluctantly nods and says he'll go phone the airport and see about getting them onto the earlier flight he could.

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The first thing they do when they touch down in the UK is get Brian to a hospital and once they know he's going to get the best care he can, they all pile into the minibus and are off home.

Rebecca honestly doesn't know how they got Brian through those checkpoints.

While they were waiting, Roger and John had stood on either side of him, holding him up until they could usher him through onto the aircraft but they were all exhausted. They'd had to fly to Washington first before they could get a flight back to London. Paul said it was because there was no other way but she had a suspicion that it was because he didn't want to cost the record label the cancellation fees of eight tickets.

"I can't help but notice," Freddie began, looking at Rebecca where she was sleeping against John's shoulder in the row in front, "That Miss Jackson doesn't have a ring on her finger. What's that about?"

"Will you keep your voice down?" Roger hissed but he knew it was fine. Rebecca was completely dead to the world when she slept. He doesn't even think that an earthquake would wake her.

"A ring?" Hannah asked, looking at him, "Are you going to ask her to marry you?"

Everyone was looking at him now, making him shift uncomfortably in his seat, "Maybe."

"You went to the Empire State Building, didn't you?" Freddie asked, "I thought you were going to do it there!"

"I never said that!" Roger said quietly, "And even if I was going to, I couldn't. Not when Mr and Mrs Deacon ran off to get married could I?"

"We ruined your proposal?" Hannah asked, and Roger immediately felt guilty when her eyes looked to be filling with tears.

"No," he quickly said, "Hannah, please don't cry. You didn't ruin anything, okay?"

"You're sure?"

"Yes," he murmured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "You're fine. I haven't even thought about how I'm going to do it. Or even when."

"Do what?"

Everyone froze when Rebecca's tired voice spoke up and she looks up blearily from John's shoulder.

Hannah looks at Freddie, who looks at Roger, who gives her a tight-lipped smile as he tries to come up with something to say.

But luckily, Deaky saves him the trouble.

"He's just saying he's thinking about asking his mum and sister to come visit you two in the city."

Roger's impressed.

"Oh," she says quietly, rubbing at her eyes, "That's a great idea, Rog."

He nods, "We'll talk about it once we've got over the jet lag, yeah?"

The two of them are the first to be dropped off and after hauling their luggage from the minibus, they sluggishly make their way to the close.

"Even though I'm gutted that we've had to come home early," Roger mumbled as they climbed the stairs to the flat, "I have to say I missed this place."

Rebecca frowns as he opens the door, "Do you think Bri's going to be okay? You saw him, Rog, he looked awful."

"And he's getting the best care he can," he soothes, rubbing her arms gently, "You heard what Alice said; if she hears any news from the hospital or Prenter, she'll ring round us all and tell us."

"She did say that, didn't she?" she mumbles, rubbing at her eyes some more - a telltale sign that she is still exhausted and he gently pushes her towards the bedroom.

"She did. Now, how about we go get some proper sleep?"

She nods and wordlessly starts pulling her shirt over her head. She's never heard a better idea.

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now, i'm no doctor so pls excuse any inaccuracies with the medical mumbo jumbo that's in this chapter but do feel free to correct me