Pete POV
It was the last night of the tour. We were doing one last show in San Diego, after having had to cancel and rebook a bunch of the shows when Jaime was sick.
Tomorrow we'd be heading back to LA where we'd debrief, and unpack, and I'd get to go home and check in with my family.
After Jaime's illness, I talked with him and we both determined it would be better for him to go home. He was still pretty weak, and I wanted him to rest and recover properly. He understood and agreed, and I'd promised, depending on how he was doing and how he was feeling, if he was back at school full time or not, I'd take him on the European leg later. I wanted him to have the experience and I knew he'd said he'd learned a lot from our sound techs. But after nearly losing him, I needed to know he was going to get proper rest, and even though he didn't have the same demands on his time as I did, I wanted him to be able to sleep properly, to properly heal and recover.
And he agreed. I had thought he would have given me grief but I think even Jaime realized he needed to be home where he could sleep as much as he needed, would be near his doctors in case something happened again, and where I knew he was in good hands.
Don, our medic on tour, was amazing and had helped Jaime when he could. But we hadn't expected Jaime to get so sick.
When he was released from the hospital in San Diego, he was still pretty shaky from being sick and having been in a coma. Meagan had brought him and the kids to the bus and Jaime had packed up a bunch of his belongings.
"Sorry, Dad," he said as he was packing his belongings.
"What are you sorry for?" I asked him.
"Derailing your tour, getting sick, worrying you all, and then almost making you decide... Y'know."
"Don't apologize, Jaime. Unless you got sick on purpose," I smirked at him.
"Yeah. Totally," he smirked back.
"Meagan's taking you to Dr. Jensen on Tuesday, don't forget," I said.
"I know," he sighed. Dr. Jensen had mentioned he wanted to do more imaging and see if his tumour was still responding to the chemo, if it had grown, shrunk or not changed at all.
Meagan was under strict orders to call me immediately after Jaime's appointment. She'd agreed.
As we pulled into the venue, I saw fans had already lined up. They had all been amazing when we'd postponed the dates while Jaime was sick. And I saw more than a few signs as we drove in, wishing Jaime well. I smiled.
"Looks like your son has more fans now than you do," Andy laughed and clapped me on the shoulder as we drove into the back lot. I smirked at him.
Under the bus I had crates of stuffed animals that had been thrown on stage for Jaime. I'd collected all the notes and letters into an envelope for him to read when I got home. We'd donate the stuffed animals once he'd had a chance to see them.
Patrick kept looking out the front window and then back at Andy, who shrugged.
"You two okay?" I asked, frowning at them both.
"Yeah. Fine. Why?" Patrick asked. I looked between the two of them.
"Because you're acting weird. Weirder than usual," I said.
"No," Patrick said. "I'm my usual weird. Maybe Andy's being weirder."
"Nope. Normal weird here too," he smiled. Joe looked at me and then Patrick and Andy. Then he shook his head. So maybe it was nothing, because if Joe wasn't in on something with them, then maybe I was just reading into things.
We got off the bus and headed into the venue and into the dressing rooms.
Someone came up behind me and covered my eyes. They didn't say anything.
"Uh, hello?" I said, taking the hands off my eyes and turning around. Jaime was standing there, a wide grin on his face.
"Hey, Dad," he said.
"Jaime? What are you doing here?!" I asked, pulling him into a hug.
"Mom thought you could use a surprise," he said.
"Well, this is certainly a surprise and a nice one at that," I said. "I'm happy to see you. How are you doing?"
"I'm good. Look," he said, pulling off his beanie. "Hair."
He was grinning. He had a thin growth of hair. His hair was starting to grow back. I smiled.
"How are you feeling?" I asked. We had spoken almost every night while I'd been away. I knew that he'd had a cold a few weeks ago and it had knocked him out for a couple of days. But he didn't develop pneumonia. He'd just spent a couple of days in bed and slept a lot but otherwise, he'd been alright.
"Good," he said. "Better."
I smiled.
"Glad to hear," I said and hugged him again. "So Mom dragged you all the way down here? Just to see me?"
"Oh, god. No. I'm here to see this kinda crappy band. Maybe you've heard of them?"
"No crappy bands playing here. Not tonight," I said.
"You sure about that?" He asked. I smirked at him.
Just then Andy, Joe and Patrick came in.
"Hey! We heard Jaime was here!"
The guys surrounded my son and said hello, hugged him, checked in with him and welcomed him like a long lost... son, actually.
"Thanks, Patrick," Jaime said. Patrick smiled and nodded.
"What're you thanking him for?" I asked, confused.
"I might have been the one to get Jaime down here," he said. "You know. Arranged a ride, made sure his credentials were reactivated. That sort of thing," Patrick said.
"How did you get down here?" I asked, realizing Meagan wasn't here.
"I drove him. Got a problem with that, Wentz?" Brendon said, coming around the corner. I hugged my friend.
"Not at all. Thanks, Bren," I said.
The day couldn't have been any better. We did press, Jaime joined me for one interview, and then we soundchecked. Jaime heckled us the whole time, with Brendon. I couldn't tell who was influencing who, but rolled my eyes at them both.
Jaime was laughing and smiling and really enjoying himself. Don had heard Jaime was here and had come to check in with him, too. I saw them hug and then Don went to do whatever it was Don had to do.
I watched my son, and saw he was actually happy. I could tell he was feeling pretty good. He was open, smiling, laughing and moving around with not a care.
And why shouldn't he? He'd fought so hard to get here.
Throughout the whole show I kept looking over at side stage where Jaime was standing. He was watching us, and watching the side stage crew, who were showing him some things.
I couldn't stop smiling.