So not many chapters left now guys. The last few chapters will contain the pandemic, if I get any of the information wrong, I'm sorry but I kind of forgot most of what happened in the first lockdown.
January 2020
Amelia is in L.A. for the premiere of Dolittle, she's getting ready while talking to Gwilym on facetime. He takes note of the dress his wife is wearing, it's different from her usual style, "I've never seen you wear a long sleeve dress, it looks good though."
"You think so?" She stands back giving him a full view of her outfit.
"It's quite cold here today so I'm glad I choose long sleeves, but it's not one of Brianna's, it's a different designer. Brie's taking some time away from work to focus on herself, did Ben tell you that they had a scare the other day with the baby?" The doctor's confirmed Brianna's pregnancy, she's now 15 weeks along, putting her due date at the 30th of June.
A few days ago Ben rushed Brianna to the hospital after she experienced sharp pains in her abdomen, the baby is fine and so is Brianna but the doctors have asked her to take it easy during the rest of her pregnancy and little to no work.
"Yeah, he called me yesterday sounding stressed." Gwilym feels for Ben, he'd been worried enough about Amelia when she was pregnant without any complications on top. He can't imagine his friends worry.
A knock on her hotel door pulls her away to answer it. She lets Rami in then Gwilym continues, "The news of this bloody virus in China isn't helping anyone either. Hey Rami."
Rami grins returning the greeting, "Afternoon Gwil, let's hope the virus stays in China. You ready to go Mills?"
"Yes." She turns to grab her phone from its propped up position, "I've got to go but my flight home is tomorrow so I'll see you at the airport. Love you."
"I'll be there. I love you too," He hangs up and she puts the phone in her bag.
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March 2020
Sadly Rami's words didn't work, the virus from China, now named the coronavirus, has spread. Cases in the UK have reached over 200 and several deaths.
Amelia was picking Freddie up from school when his teacher come over looking worried, "Can I have a quick word Mrs Mercury-Lee?"
"Of course. Has Freddie done something wrong?" She looks down seeing Freddie shaking his head.
"No, not at all, Freddie is one of my best students. No, the headteacher has asked all teachers to have word with any parents we can get a hold of. As you know this Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in several school closures across England and it's becoming increasingly likely that this school will close like all others at the end of this week on the 20th of March."
It's been all over the news about schools closing and she knew it was coming but she hoped it wouldn't happen, "What does that mean for his education? When will it be confirmed?"
"Confirmation will be given by the time children go home tomorrow, they'll be sent home with a letter. Schools will remain open for children of key workers but unfortunately, you and your husband do not fall into those categories. We don't know when school will reopen. We are asking parents to home school their children but an online system is being worked on."
"This is ridiculous! I'm not a teacher and neither is my..." Amelia notes the stressed look on the woman's face and stops, "I'm sorry it's not your fault, this whole thing is a nightmare and I know you're just doing what the government tells you. Thank you for the information, I'll relay it to my husband."
"Thank you for understanding. This is something none of us has faced before, so I'm afraid you might be told different things by governments and officials, but the school will give you the right information."
"Come on, Freddie," Amelia walks him back to the car.
She holds the door open for him when they get home, "Go upstairs and get changed, baby. I'll help you with your homework when you come down," Following his mum's instructions, Freddie runs upstairs.
Amelia joins Gwilym on the sofa, tucking herself into his side and tells him everything the teacher told her. He sighs taking in her words, "This is going to be a nightmare, first we can't see family or travel and now this. Let's hope Johnson's announcement next week gives us a firm answer. What are we going to do for money? I know we're not short of it at the moment but it can only last so long."
"I know." She runs a hand through his hair kissing his lips tenderly, "I'm getting money coming in from the flat in Sweden so we have that plus any royalties, I'll have to tap into the money dad left me if we get short. I saved it in case a time came where I couldn't work for a while, we'll use that to pay for the bills and our money to pay for everything else. We'll be fine, bored out of our minds but I can think of worse children to be stuck in the house with than Freddie and Taylor."
"Oh, that's not my worry," Freddie and Taylor are very relaxed children compared to most that he's been around but that's probably because he and Amelia are relaxed people, "but it's the homeschooling thing that worries me. We're not teachers."
"Well, I can cover music and history. If you cover English and then I could see if Brian doesn't mind covering maths and science via zoom a few times a week." The European leg of the Queen tour has been postponed till next year due to the pandemic, "The school will be sending out a letter tomorrow maybe that will give us an idea of what to do. He's going to be disappointed when he finds out that Madame Edith's is closing until the government say they can reopen."
"I can't go to theatre group now either?" Freddie whines stood in the doorway of the living room.
"Shoot," Amelia mutters. She hadn't seen him standing there, she gestures him over and he climbs onto the sofa next to Gwilym, "A lot of things are going to be cancelled and postponed this year Freddie. But this pandemic is something that no one saw coming, wearing the masks and social distancing from those outside of our bubble is to keep us safe."
"I don't like this pandemic mum, it's scary," His eyes are full of worry and disappointment.
She doesn't know how to answer that because this pandemic is scary, everyone is panic buying at the stores, positive cases and deaths are rising by the day and the only advice the government can give people at the moment is to wash your hands, social distances and isolate if you test positive.
Looking at Gwilym for back up he takes over, "As long as you stick to the rules there's no need to be scared, Freddie. With school closing, there may be one or two days with not a lot to do but we will be homeschooling you and we'll do what we can to make the days filled with things to do if we do go into lockdown. For now, focus on your lessons tomorrow and listen to what the teachers tell you."
"Your dad's right. This pandemic is rubbish but there is an upside to it, we get to spend more time together than we usually would." Amelia has an idea, several actually, "If we go into lockdown, Arthur, Robin and Jill won't be able to come in and work. So we can do some gardening, there are three rooms upstairs with nothing in them, I'm sure we can do something with them, decorating etc... and I'm going to the shops tomorrow and getting all the baking stuff I can find. If we go into lockdown by the time it's over we'll be pro bakers."
"I'd better go shopping for paint tomorrow if we're going to be decorating. See Freddie, with some imagination we can make this lockdown fun, plus we do have a 10-month-old upstairs that needs looking after." Even though a moment ago they were quite down about the whole situation, Gwilym is looking forward to the idea of spending some quality time with his family should Boris Johnson announce a lockdown.
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Boris Johnson's announcement came on Monday the 23rd of March following the closure of most schools on the Friday just gone, Amelia was upstairs changing Taylor into her nighttime baby grow when Gwilym shouts her, "Milly, it's on!"
"Oh, come on sweety." She closes the last poppers on the babygrow and settles the little girl on her hip, "Let's go see what the man in charge has to say."
Taylor reaches for her dad when they get downstairs, Gwilym takes her and Freddie cuddles up with his mum. They listen to his words intently and despite him not mentioning the word lockdown once, it's clear that they are now in a lockdown for the next 12 weeks.
The letter Freddie came home with last week told them that while the aim is to get the school open again by June it's most likely going to be September before school restarts. They are working on the possibility of classes online but for now, it's all homeschooling for Freddie.
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Early May 2020
The beginning of May saw the Mercury-Lee family seven weeks into lockdown and the release of Queen's charity single You Are The Champions. Despite the occasional boring day, Amelia and Gwilym have managed to keep the days fun for Freddie and Taylor.
Today, the 4th of May is about one very important thing. Taylor's 1st birthday.
Of course, they can't have a birthday party for her like they wanted to but they're having a big facetime party later this afternoon.
When she woke that morning, Amelia stretches before rolling over and cuddling up to Gwilym, "Morning," He mumbles voice still thick with sleep.
She doesn't reply just stares up at him in a dreamy state, reaching up she kisses him lovingly, "I can't believe she's one today."
"Neither can I, she seems to be growing so quickly now." He likes this age though, Taylor is a lot more aware of the world around her now. She can crawl and she's started learning to walk too, she likes to explore especially with her brother and she's full of cuddles and kisses. They've got a few words out of her but they're limited at the moment.
Amelia intended to get up and go get Taylor but before she can even roll out of Gwilym's hold their bedroom door opens to Freddie carrying Taylor in with him.
Freddie puts Taylor on the bed and she crawls up the bed cuddling into Gwilym's other side while Freddie sits next to his mum, "Good morning, this is a surprise," Gwilym tickles Taylor's side making her squeal.
"Happy birthday sweety," Amelia kisses Taylor's cheek, "Shall we go and see if there are any presents downstairs for you?"
She nods her head excitedly crawling over to her mum, Amelia lifts her off the bed in an aeroplane motion onto her hip. Taylor protests pointing over Amelia's shoulder at Gwilym who is taking his time to get out of bed, "Yes daddy's coming too."
"Da!" Taylor repeats.
Amelia stops, "Oh you traitor."
"Dada!" The little girl squeals.
"Oh good girl," Gwilym praises taking her back from his wife smirking, "Say it again."
"Da."
"What about mum?" Amelia tries.
"Da," Taylor repeats.
"And after I carried you for nine months."
Taylor spoilt with presents that have been sent or dropped off by family and friends throughout the past week. Freddie got on with his school work so he can join the facetime.
Later in the afternoon, Amelia fires up the laptop for the family facetime. The family call includes Brian and Anita, Tom and Ceinwen, Roger and Sarina, John and Veronica, Rhiannon, Luke, Lola, Tigerlily, Rufus and Adam, and Rory when she's not working.
Brian and Anita were first to join and Amelia calls Freddie and Taylor over to join. More than anything else Freddie and Taylor have missed seeing their grandparents, "Hi Nanny, hi Grandpa, we miss you," Freddie waves at them sitting on the floor in front of Amelia.
Taylor crawls over and Amelia lifts her onto her knee pointing to the screen, "Who's that Tay?" Taylor has hated not seeing her grandpa.
Lockdown hasn't affected Taylor much but when it comes to Brian she misses her time in the garden with him and listening to his stories. So it's no surprise that Taylor pouts but it still gets Amelia's heart when she puts her hand to the screen, "Pa."
Brian looks as affected by Taylor actions as Amelia, "We miss you too Freddie but hopefully we'll get to see you again soon."
Anita smiles, "Happy birthday Taylor. Did she like her present?"
"The ride on horse?" Amelia giggles looking over to where Gwilym is currently trying to put it together, "Once Gwil has put it together I'm sure she'll love it," She turns the laptop round to show him sat on the floor, instructions in hand looking confused.
Roger joins the call at that point laughing, "Having fun Gwilym?"
Gwilym glances up from the instructions and blushes, "Can you buy something pre-built next time?"
Amelia, Freddie and Taylor continue with the call until they switch to the friend facetime chat which includes, Joe and Rosie, Allen and Jessica, Brianna and Ben and Rami and Lucy. Sadly Rami and Lucy are apart during the pandemic and they can't travel to see each other but they zoom constantly.
Throwing in the towel with Taylor's toy, Gwilym joins them for this call. Ben and Brianna join first, "Happy birthday Taylor," Ben grins pulling a party popper. Taylor claps and squeals in reply.
"How are you feeling, Brie?" Amelia asks.
"I'm feeling alright, though I don't think I'm going to last till 40 weeks. I don't think it's going to be much after 37 weeks that I go into labour, I just wish it could all happen normally." Brianna is now 32 weeks pregnant and it's so sad for the couple because Brianna's mum can't come over from Wales to be with her daughter, Ben's parents can't go round to see them and Amelia wants to go around and see them but she can't.
When Brianna goes into labour, Ben can't be in the room with her until just before she's ready to push, when Brianna's midwife told her that Ben flipped he is so pissed off that he can't be with her. He hasn't been able to go to any of the scans after the 20-week scan because of lockdown.
For his parents and Brianna's mum, this is the first grandchild and neither of them is going to be able to see the baby after the birth.
Boris Johnson is looking to lift restrictions in July but their baby will already be a month old, this is a time for them that's meant to be happy and share with family and they can't do that.
"Well you know the moment we can we'll be round to see you if you're happy for us to of course and hopefully they'll be a little one to meet."
"Oh, you're more than welcome," Ben hates being cooped up in the house but he doesn't want to risk Brianna's getting the virus while pregnant so he keeps going out to a minimum. The others eventually join the call and they chat for ages.