A/N: For anyone wanting a visual of Alessia, I thought I'd add this in, as this is a picture I created and it matched how I've pictured her pretty well :)
•🗝•
Kelly's POV, May 1st 1986
Since last year, there hasn't been too many major developments but those which have happened were pretty monumental. Though before getting into them, I had to say, Alessia and I did in the end staying with Vince and the guys on the road for the entire duration of the tour.
I had a lot of fun and the chaos was actually kind of refreshing in a weird way, Vince mainly stayed with myself and Allie but did go out with Tommy and Nikki on some occasions although it wasn't anywhere near as chaotic as the tour with Ozzy, one because Doc had a more broad idea of what to expect as well as Nikki not going out as much, favouring staying in and getting high though when high, he and Tommy could still wreak havoc, and did, much to the dismay of hotel management all around the world.
It was an experience going to different countries and it was something I could certainly see the appeal of and why musicians thought so highly of touring in that regard, Doc as suspected, hated me being around at first as it was just more people to watch but he was thankful for me when I could get through more to Tommy and Nikki more than he ever could, and also Vince when he got a little too high some nights.
Nikki had actually overdosed while on tour on Valentines Day, in London and it wasn't even Nikki who revealed that information, it was Andy McCoy of Hanoi Rocks, who was out with Nikki the previous night along with Michael Monroe and a couple of drug dealers they knew.
We all only found out as Andy found Doc the next day at the show the guys had, which was their final or two shows in London, and told the manager what happened and me and the others only found out Nikki had OD'd and practically died after Doc came storming into the dressing room yelling at Nikki for the incident.
The bassist got defensive and yelled back about how it wasn't Doc's place to comment on his business and all that bullshit and I knew Doc only cared about the guys mainly from a monetary perspective, I do believe somewhere he cared for them as people in some regard.
We'd all been taken aback by the revelation, and it scared me to know that he'd been so close to death but Nikki didn't outwardly seem to care how lucky he was, I hoped internally he cared more about his life than he was showing he did.
Anyways, the 'Theatre Of Pain' tour had ended back in March, since then things had both been quiet and hectic, if that were even possible. Quiet because anything was quiet compared to a Mötley Crüe tour and hectic because there was a lot to do, the guys had to start work on their next album, and Tommy was getting married in just over a week to Heather Locklear, a actress and TV presenter, after meeting her early last year, she joined us for a few weeks of the tour overall, and it was nice to have another female to talk too. I wouldn't say we were close friends or anything now but we got on and I would consider her a friend of mine.
Then in a few weeks after that the guys were filming a documentary style video, I believe they were calling Mötley Crüe: Uncensored, Vince's prison sentence was due to be served in the summer, but given it was only a month, or possibly less depending if any more deals can be reached, I know his lawyers were working on something, as Doc had contacted them.
He wanted all hands on deck for the album, so anything he can get done to help Vince he'd do, but not out of the kindness of his heart or anything.
Right now, Vince was over at Tommy's place taking Allie with him, as he'd asked Vin to help him with some wedding things, like Vinnie knew anything about weddings but agreed regardless.
That left me alone, with me having the TV to keep me occupied. There was an interview being aired in a few minutes on MTV, which was an interview Vince did last week.
I'd been curious to see what he'd been asked given when he got back from that interview he wouldn't tell me anything about it saying I'd just have to watch it and see for myself.
So, that was exactly what I was doing, I was settled in front of the TV, just waiting for the interview to start broadcasting.
When the interview started, the host obviously introduced he was reporting for MTV and all the usual stuff interviewers clarify before then moving onto introducing Vince.
"Tonight, I'm here with Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe and the band are certainly no strangers to controversy, however behind all the chaos are people, and we've got an exclusive insight into what goes into balancing being an international rockstar with having a family. Vince, how are you?"
"I'm good, dude."
"That's good to hear. You must be busy with the next Mötley Crüe album at the minute, can you give us any hints?"
"There's not that much to hint at right now, but we're in the process of writing songs and getting them together before we start demoing and then recording. We'll give some hints out, I'm getting the planned title of the album tattooed on me in a couple of weeks so... people will have to wait and see."
"That's dedication, you must like what you've got for it so far to commit to something like that."
"I like the name, there's not enough material at the minute for me to say I 'like' what we have, it's a massive work on progress... we're all writing and we'll all put our idea's together and see what the strongest songs are lyrically to shortlist for the album, it's pretty boring, it's the stuff nobody wants to talk about y'know? The recording is the really exciting stuff... right now, things are just kinda slow."
"People find it hard to believe people like you know how to live slowly."
"It's possible believe it or not." My boyfriend says with a broad smile "When you do the right kinda things, living slowly isn't so bad... I enjoy it because you can have a good time out on the road but when I'm at home I make the most of it now, not that I didn't before but my priorities have definitely shifted and are more focused on what they should have always been."
"You're talking about your girlfriend and daughter, Kelly and Alessia, right?"
"Yep." Vinnie nodded.
"And how old is Alessia now?"
"She's four in September, which is crazy man, I remember her being a baby like it was yesterday and now she can pretty much argue with me."
The interviewer chuckles "Who does she take after more?"
"Me, definitely, I feel bad for Kelly having to deal with two of me all the time, not that she'd agree with that, she'll say she's glad Allie took after me."
"I'm sure she's be glad too that your daughter has such a winning personality. Talking of Kelly, she's been photoed with you for years, though she did seemingly disappear from your life in 1984, there were rumours you'd broken up or were taking a break and that seems the most plausible explanation, so what happened?"
"Er, given the way the band was especially in that time, I think it's fairly self explanatory what happened... it was documented a lot how outta control we were especially on the road with Ozzy and that's true, ever since the band started to take off both here in the US and in Canada in '82 and that only got worse in '83 and with the inflation of the band all our egos blew up too which lead to bad decisions, and the influx of groupies was hard to resist because of that, Kelly found out what I'd been doing and ended it."
"And she re-appeared publicly in your life last year and it's still only rumoured that you're back together but most people know, but for those who might not be sure, are you back together?"
"Yeah, we've been back together for around a year."
"Hmm and she's been a lot of support for you I'm assuming the last year or so too."
"That's an understatement, the last couple of years really haven't been the best for me and that's all my own fault, Kelly's definitely pulled me through some bad times and I'm always grateful to her for sticking with me despite the fact I think I can be a pain in the ass for her." Vince laughed.
"Does she handle the rockstar lifestyle well? What are her opinions on what you do?"
"She's always been supportive of me and my career, she's the one who actually talked me into auditioning for Mötley Crüe cause I wasn't gonna do it, thought they were a bunch of misfits who only did music because they couldn't do anything else, didn't think much of them eventhough I'd known Tommy from my high school days, I wanted nothing to do with their band, that was before I realised I was pretty much a misfit myself." The singer explained "But I was in a cover band before and it wasn't ever gonna go anywhere and Kelly told me to take a risk, I did. She always seems to know what's right for me and I trust her opinion, I always take it into account before I make choices... though whether I listen is another story, I'm not always good at that."
"Would you say you're a difficult person?"
"For certain things, fuck yeah, dude. I'm quite stubborn and I know I can say stupid things and lose my temper over dumb stuff but I like to think I'm easy to talk too, quite laid back and chill. I'm easier now than I was a few years ago, when the band first got big I did turn into a total douchebag."
"Have you changed?"
"I'm still the same person, I'm still how I've always been, I just have my limits now, I mean I have a good time, but I was stupid a couple of years ago, I didn't really value what I had, I just took my life for granted and it got me into some shitty places. I'm doing everything I can to make sure I don't make that mistake again. I don't ever really speak candidly about things about my personal life, all of us in the band, we all try and keep it separate from band life as much as possible but there are times where things need to be said and I'll take full responsibility for my past actions and their consequences and without Kelly around, I'm not the same person and if we hadn't have worked things out, I can honestly say I don't think I'd be sat here in the place I am mentally now without her."
"Things got that rough for you?"
"It was bad, I don't wanna get into it but I felt like I wasn't wanted anywhere, I'm a social person, run my mouth to anyone kinda social but I'd never felt so isolated, it's too deep dude, it's not something people expect people like me to experience or talk about... it wasn't fun, it was really tough for a while but I had things to focus on, I had Alessia and she's the most important thing to me besides Kelly."
"Do you and Kelly ever plan on getting married in the future? Is it on your bucket list?"
Vince smirked and was silent for a moment, thinking through what hew was going to say then shrugged "It's possible. I mean... never say never, right?"
"Have you thought about asking?" The interviewer says with intrigue.
"I've thought about it... you'll just have to be patient and see if I do it or not."
"Well, I think a lot of your fans want to see you put a ring on her finger given she's publicly had your back recently, though a lot of people also want to be her."
The blonde laughed "Both points are true, but only one of them is possible, y'know, I've known Kelly for quite a long time, seven years now and she's put up with my shit more than anyone... there's nobody that can compare with her... sorry to disappoint but I wouldn't want anyone if they're not her, girls can dream though, I'm not complaining against it."
"So, you're officially announcing you're off the market to everyone?"
"Pretty much... I've ridden that train already and it didn't do anything good for me and once you've ridden it once you know what it's about and it loses it's attraction."
"Well, that's just broken thousands of hearts across the country, even maybe across the world. I don't think it'll stop anyone, it might make them work even harder, I guess you'll find that out."
From here on out, the interview was more focused on the band, a few questions were discussing the success of the band and what kinda goals the guys have now and what kinda vibe of rock the next album is looking to be, a couple of questions linked back to me and Allie but not too much, the interview was about ten minutes all in all, and I certainly had a question or two myself for Vince when he got back from Tommy's place.
It was about seven in the evening when Vince did come back with Alessia who didn't look tired in the slightest, which she never did when she saw Tommy, his energy kinda just spread to her, it was nice to witness but a pain in the ass to get her to bed when it came to it.
"Hi, Mommy." She rushed as she entered the house saying nothing else as she went into the living room while Vince just gave me a lopsided smile.
"Hey." He greeted.
"Hey." I returned "Have a good time?"
"I think good is a little kind, it was fine to begin with then I just had to listen to Tommy ramble about every detail of the wedding and everyone who was attending and the cost of it all and how nervous he was about fucking something up, just everything under the sun he could talk about he did."
"It's Tommy, you know how he gets when he's stressed he just talks."
"And gives everyone a migraine."
"As I've told you many times before, you'd hate it if he changed." I remind Vince as he closed the front door and we went into the living room ourselves saying as I did "Allie seems to be in high spirits."
"Yeah." Vince huffed exasperated "We're gonna struggle to get her to bed, aren't we? Why'd I take her with me again?"
"I can't answer that question, baby." I laughed to myself kissing the man on the cheek "You want a coffee or something stronger given you've spent time with Tommy."
"A whiskey would be good actually, might stop my head from exploding."
I nodded and went in the direction of the kitchen as Alessia had ran straight over to her toys in the corner of the living room the second she walked in.
I got Vinnie his Whiskey and made myself a cup of coffee, we then proceeded to watch some TV for a couple of hours then put Alessia to bed after she finally agreed to go upstairs, Vin read her a story until she was tired enough to go to sleep which took half an hour or so. Vin and I then chose to finish watch a movie that was on TV before heading to bed ourselves.
We got ready for bed and when we were both laid down, I placed my head on the top of Vince's chest and reached for his left arm bringing it closer to me "So... I watched the interview you did... and I've got a couple of questions for you."
"What might those questions be?"
"Well, you were asked about us getting married... you were kind of vague on that... any particular reason?" I wonder, starting to trace Vince's tattoo on his arm with my finger.
"No." the blonde says with a smile on his voice "But... I said I thought about it, and just so I know... if I did ask you, would you say yes?"
"I would." I nodded almost instantly "You know I would."
"Yeah, I suppose I do... but I hurt you... and that's a big question to say yes too, I'd get it if you didn't want to marry me."
I sigh and move my hand from his arm to lay it palm down against his chest "That's not important anymore, okay? We're here now and that's all I care about. I love you, Vinnie."
"I love you too." He replied "Hey, baby?"
"Hmm?"
"Why did you forgive me? As much as I wanted you back, I did just expect you to tell me to go to hell."
"I forgave you because as much you can be an asshole, I know you love me and you needed me, I've never once stopped loving you in the entire time I've known you... believe that some day."
"It's hard but I do believe you."
"Good. You know, you never usually let anyone ask you things about me or Allie, you always say it's nobody else's business... so what changed?"
"Pretty much everything, have you seen my life the last eighteen months?" The frontman laughed, sitting himself up a bit which left me in an awkward position so I just sat up a bit myself.
"That's not very detailed of a response."
"I don't have a reason, it wasn't thought out or anything. I just thought when I was approached for that interview that I never talk about you and for once I'd switch it up a little. I mean, it's still nobody's business but I wanna talk about you, if you can't already tell, I could go on about you for quite a long time."
"I had no idea, really, you barely acknowledge my existence half the time." I comment sarcastically.
"Exactly, and what's why I wanted too... I don't think I'll do it again anytime soon, cause nobody needs to know anything else really for the moment but who knows. I realised I never actually asked your permission to talk about you, probably should have, huh?"
"I've always said I don't mind you talking about me, it's you who's usually adamant against it. I don't mind the attention, at certain times I can see the problem with it but I wouldn't have encouraged you to go with the band and be famous if I didn't know what that would mean, I always knew privacy was gonna go pretty much straight out the window."
"You're incredible to deal with all this shit as well as you do, you know that?"
"I don't really know about that but I just deal with it for you, if it bothered me I'd tell you though. I'll always be so so proud of you for getting here and dealing with all the stuff you've had too, it's way more than me."
"Doesn't matter you still have to deal with it too. If you were ever asked to do an interview with me or anything like that, would you do it?"
"I see no reason why I wouldn't, what made you ask?"
"Curiosity more than anything. The more you're pictured with me, the more people wanna know about you, one day you might be asked to be interviewed with me."
"Then I'll agree to it... it's Allie's privacy I think is most important, to keep her away from the paparazzi as much as possible until she's old enough to consciously make the decision to whether or not she wants it or not, my privacy I don't care about, anytime you get asked about me you can talk about it, it's just Alessia I think where saying too much isn't a good thing."
"I stand with you on that... it's good to know. Are you looking forward to Tommy's wedding? Cause the way he goes on about it, it sounds overhyped as hell."
"Overhyped how?"
"He goes on about if everything goes to plan it'll be fucking amazing, like the best thing since sliced bread and so hyping anything up that much just automatically sets it up to be a disappointment. Either way I think it's gonna be boring as fuck, because a wedding is only really important to the people getting married everyone else is kinda forced to be there."
"You wouldn't know how boring a wedding is so don't judge it. It's only a day so even if it's boring it's not like it's intolerable."
"No, but most of it has been Heather, and her family and you know how they are all stuck up and anti everything that Tommy does so it's not going to be a fun wedding."
"We can't know until we're there, hun. We'll have a good time."
"Fucking better do."
"You won't be saying any of that when it's you in Tom's place."
"Well no because that'll be about you and me and I give more of a shit about you and me than Heather's stuffy look at a good time."
I rolled my eyes "You're a dick."
"I know I am." Vince shrugged "You love me though so can't be that bad."
Tommy's wedding probably wouldn't be Vince's idea of a good wedding because yeah, Heather had different standards but it was her day and if Tommy was happy to follow her wants for it then it's their decision, Vince can have a wedding how he wants when we get married, whenever that happens.
For now, it was Tommy's life and he was allowed to do as he wanted and we as guests had to sit through and support our friend even if it ends up being boring to us, that's what good friends do.
•🗝•
Kelly's POV, August 19th 1986
Since May work on the album has been full steam ahead with the few breaks they'd gotten being welcomed, but they hadn't had more than a few days off the last couple of weeks given Doc wanted all the writing done given it was taking longer than usual in the managers eyes.
And yeah, even when things were written they weren't the best quality given Nikki was spaced out on drugs more often than not and Tommy was too busy spending time with Heather to really contribute, Mick wasn't really trying because of his little of a fuck Nikki was giving over the songs, Mick felt anything he contributed as the main writer wouldn't be anything Nikki would approve of and Vince had tried to write and had gotten a few good ideas but they had to go through Nikki and because of that any writing Vince did do took a long time to come back to him with any changes because amok was barely able to stay conscious most days let alone work.
Tommy and Heathers wedding had been a prime example of Nikki's addiction clearly becoming a huge problem, he was fucked up as hell that day, Tommy forgave him pretty quickly but I could see it in Tommy's face sometimes he was still disappointed in Nik even if he wasn't angry.
Their wedding had been good, Vince complained a little bit but overall found it not as boring as he'd initially expected it to be. Talking of Vince, he'd served out his prison sentence and that ended up only being nineteen days given he was released under a sobriety condition which he accepted.
Though, he wasn't entirely sober, he still drank and took drugs when he knew he didn't have a meeting with his parole officer. I was worried he'd get in trouble for breaking the order but he didn't seem to think about it and I tried not to worry about it either but it was always there in the back of my mind.
Beside that, I was glad the prison sentence was out the way, Vin had dreaded it because he thought it would be rough as hell for him in there and it was bad, he was victim of a lot of verbal abuse but other than that it wasn't as awful as he expected.
I visited him every day as soon as I could, taking Allie with me, she didn't understand why Vince was in prison and didn't like it but we put it in the best way we could for her to understand why Daddy wasn't at home and was in jail.
The main thing since the blonde got out of prison was the album, literally the day he was released Doc called and demanded he showed up to a session the following day which I found stupid, Vince was going to go just to stay out of Doc's bad books but I wouldn't have it and literally rang the manager back telling him where to shove it and that Vince wouldn't be attending that session as he was pretty exhausted having not slept much while serving his sentence and was physically and emotionally drained.
I made sure Vince took three days after he got home to just get over the experience and not worry about the album or anything, we had until next year anyways so I don't know what Doc was so pushy for, he needed some sympathy sometimes.
After those three days though Vin got back into the swing of things and went to the band meeting I made Doc reschedule, I don't believe it was productive, I believe there have only been two songs written since that meeting which is why Doc came up with a plan to try and get them to be a little bit more active.
The guys were gathered at mine and Vin's place, the place where it was settled they would have an evening hanging out and working together to actually collaborate and write or finish writing the songs they had started or had ideas for. Doc had no idea if this plan would work and neither did I, it was more likely to work than him yelling at them, at least he had that initiative.
But, because they were all over at our place, I knew there'd be alcohol and they'd probably make a lot of noise and being a responsible parent looking out for her daughter, I chose to take Alessia over to Vin's parents house for the night which both she and Vinnie were fine with.
I left them alone while I took Allie and that was a couple of hours ago as I'd stayed at the Wharton's for a coffee and a chat before starting my journey home.
I was trying to think in my head what I'd walk in on when I got home, in an ideal world they'd all be practically sober doing what Doc wanted without any procrastination but I knew better than that. They'd all be on drugs or drunk and probably have done very little if anything of what Doc had instructed them to do.
I'd find out sooner rather than later though as I got back and pulled up next to Nikki's car, getting out and heading to the front door, which was unlocked given the house was populated and it wasn't like nobody was home and there were four cars in the driveway, as me and Vinnie did have different cars though used each others as we felt we needed them.
I opened the door and entered, closing it behind me at a decent volume to tell the others I was back then I used my voice "Hello?" I called letting a second or two pass before I continued talking "Are you guys still awake or are you all in comas?"
"Nope, we're not quite there yet!" I hear Vince call back, then he appears in my view a few seconds later followed by Nikki "Though babe, we do need your help." Vin adds now standing in-front of me a few feet away.
I sighed, dreading what that could possibly mean "With what?"
"We think Tommy's dead." Nikki deadpans while sipping on a beer.
I raised an eyebrow, it wasn't exactly what I had in mind when Vince said he needed my help "And that's not concerning?"
"No, because he isn't dead but the way he is right now, he may as well be." My boyfriend spoke as he grabbed me and pulled me into the living room before I could even protest so I could see for myself what they were talking about and I see Tommy sprawled on Vince and I's couch with only his boxers on which looked to be the wrong way around.
I didn't know what exactly to say, I looked at Mick who was sat on opposite couch to the drummer and he just shook his head as if to say 'I'm not explaining, you don't wanna know' so I looked at the bassist and singer instead "I leave you guys alone for a couple of hours and everything goes to shit." I sighed "What the hell did you give him?"
"Nothing." Vince defends "He did that to himself, he snorted a few lines then wanted to play strip poker, with the first person to lose and get naked having to down an entire bottle of Jack. He lost."
"You don't say." I deadpanned "I mean, at least you had the decency to put his boxers back on. Why were you playing strip poker?"
"Like I said, it was Tommy's idea."
"But you still could have said no."
"We knew he'd lose." Vince reasoned like he wanted me to see this as he and Nikki did.
My attention moved to Mick "I guess you tried to stop them?"
"Tried, failed, as if the dickheads were gonna listen to me anyways and no, I didn't participate."
"You should have dude." The singer said in disappointment, clicking his tongue.
"No, I shouldn't have."
"Why? Too ashamed to show us your tiny dick?" Nikki joked sniggering to himself.
"If you want to see a tiny dick, look at yours in a mirror, it might even magnify it a little for you if you're lucky."
"Ouch, that's a low blow."
"Something you'd know nothing about, you need a high blow for your dick." Mick shot back without a beat being missed.
Nikki glared at the guitarist "You love digging yourself a grave don't you, old man?"
"Can't say it repulses me, no. I'd even carve my own gravestone, that's how dedicated I am."
As much as I enjoyed Mick and Nikki's back and forth I was concerned for Tommy and diverted the subject back to him "I hate breaking up your funeral plans Mick but can we focus back on Tommy for a minute? He's not okay, has anyone considered taking him to the hospital?"
"He'll be fine, we've all been in that state at some point in time. He'll just sleep it off." Vince told me and although I'd seen Vince pretty drunk and pretty high, now being one of those times also as he was pretty evidently drunk, I'd never seen him in the state Tom was in.
"And when was that? When have you been in that state?" I questioned pointing a finger at Tommy.
"We all got fucked up on the tour with Ozzy, this was the normal, at least one of us was like this every day on that tour."
"Oh, it's great to learn things two years after they happened."
"It's not like you'd have wanted to know, I didn't want to worry you over it."
"Hmm, I'll take your word for it." I hummed at the blonde before kneeling down next to Tom to try and stir him "Tommy? Hun, are you alright?" I asked gently and got some kind of strangled groan in reply.
"He's fine, it's nobody's fault but his for setting the rules of his own game. He should have known he'd lose poker, he always loses poker." Nikki reasoned.
"Then if you are still gonna play, you should have at least stopped him from drinking."
"No, why'd we do that? It made for some cheap laughs." Vinnie shrugged.
"Elaborate."
"Well for one, we got him to impersonate being a chicken while he was still naked before he lost the will to live. And that footage and those pictures were totally worth Tommy now being in a coma."
"You didn't seriously record it." I say, disappointment in my voice.
"Of course we did." Vin states as if it was a natural response to such an event, then glanced at Mick "Even fucking Ebenezer Scrooge over there laughed, and don't deny it misery guts, you fucking found it funny."
"At the beginning, but then it got old."
"A lot like you then."
"I like how out of every insult under the sun you could go for, it's always the age gap, shows how undeveloped your mind is."
"I'm trying to take that as a compliment."
"Go ahead, Blondie. You try and take every insult as a compliment, cause your ego can't stand the blow."
"We're getting off topic." Vince huffed with an eye roll "The bottom line is, you were laughing at Tommy as much as me and Nikki were, I might sell the footage of you laughing to the press, ruin your public image."
"You do that Blondie and I'll shave your fucking hair off."
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, I fucking well would."
Vince shut up after this, not being able to truly tell if Mick was being serious, and he didn't want to risk challenging Mick to carry out the threat, Vince loved his hair and to be honest I wouldn't ever like to see him without it either, I totally understand his choice to shut up.
With this gap in the conversation I stood back up and make a choice on what to do about Tommy, he couldn't go home in this state, Heather would freak and I couldn't not contact her at all cause she trusts Tommy as far as she could throw him and is paranoid about him cheating on her whenever he goes anywhere so I'd have to call and make an excuse for why he won't be home with her tonight "Well, Tom's staying here tonight, he ain't gonna move, I'm going to have to call Heather before she thinks he's out cheating on her." I huffed, starting to make my way out into the hallway to where there's another phone near the kitchen given it was easier to have three landlines, one upstairs, two downstairs so it just cut a few seconds of running around, and I didn't want the Nikki to potentially yell something stupid while I was on the phone and make the situation worse as he would just to be an ass "Stay with him, I'll be back in a few minutes." I say as I leave the room.
Vince ended out following me though and when I got to the phone near the kitchen, Vin stood on my left "Are you pissed at us?" He asks as I picked up the phone to call Tommy's number.
"No. I expected something like this I just wasn't expecting to deal with Tommy being near comatose, and all of you are too drunk for your own good. You do realise they're all going to have to stay here now? I'm not letting anyone drive home in this state."
"I'm not actually that drunk. And we already spoke about that before you got back, they're fine with that. Happy about it even."
"Hmm, and did you guys actually do any work?"
"Twenty minutes worth, then we kinda go caught up drinking and just doing more interesting things than working."
"You guys have one of the best jobs on earth yet you still can't be bothered to do it."
"We can... we just didn't want too today."
"You haven't wanted too for weeks, hence why Doc set this up."
"Nikki doesn't want too, the rest of us just can't be bothered because we need his approval on everything and he won't do it. I wanna do this album and make it better than the last one but Nikki's drug problem is fucking this up. It's not me, it's not Tommy and it's not Mick."
"It's not solely Nikki, Vin. You three could still try and work together, and overrule Nikki if he's too smacked out to do things himself, Doc will only make things worse for you if you don't do something."
"We could... but then Nikki would get pissed."
"If he's not gonna admit he's fucked up and do it then you have no choice. I can talk to Nikki, he seems to kind of listen to me but you guys need to communicate about this shit that matters rather than just sweeping it aside, all of you are letting drugs and alcohol get in the way of working, you blame Nikki and yeah, it's mainly him but it's not him alone. I'll do what I can about him but this isn't my responsibility, I can't be the one to always sort your issues."
"I know but things are strained enough though, and an argument over this wouldn't be helpful. Nikki doesn't seem to yell at you, I know the problem is not just Nikki... but right now he's the only one of us who can't seem to be bothered with anything and as he always tells us it's his band, well, he sure isn't acting like it is."
"Then someone needs to step up while Nikki's like this otherwise this album is going to fail, and none of you want that. Someone needs to take charge, all of you if needs be, doesn't have to just be one of you, it might be Nikki's band but that doesn't mean the rest of you can't take control from him if he's not in the right mental state. Talk to Mick, he's always full of wise ideas, talk to him tonight and figure something out, I'll take Nikki outside and talk to him. Deal?"
"Deal." My boyfriend replied.
"Right, I'll call Heather, you go watch Tommy."
The man did as I asked and I dialled the number for the Lee household, I gave an excuse to Heather saying they were so into working they'd be doing it late into the night and she brought it as far as I could tell though she did ask questions but I answered them all in a believing manor and she had no reason to think I was lying with that off my checklist I returned to where everyone else was and went straight over to Nikki.
The conversation with him went alright in the end, well, decently, he did get a little bit asshole-y with me, but I just told him what I needed too then left it, something I'd found myself doing many times the last year or so it seems.
I understood why Vince and even Doc wanted me to talk to Nikki, he didn't get as argumentative with me as he did anyone else and I was happy to help but they had to start talking, it's so clear they didn't know how to communicate their issues with one another and that just leads to resentment. I wish I could wave a wand and fix all this, but I couldn't.
They'd need to face their problems themselves and admit they're all partially responsible for the state of the band at the moment, and by some miracle some day they might even sit down and talk, it wouldn't be a pleasant conversation however it would be needed and do the world of good.
I don't think they even realised how much good it would do, they could be infuriating but I did get that admitting you're in the wrong isn't easy and opening saying all the problems you've caused have impacted not just you but everyone around you is something nobody wants to do.
One day they would, I only pray it doesn't take something else awful happening to one of them to actually make them realise that maybe talking isn't so hard after all.
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