He woke up because he heard murmuring. As his eyes fluttered open, he recognized Ryan's voice first.
"He's gonna be pissed."
Jace furrowed his brow at Ryan's words, not saying anything just yet as he propped himself up on his elbows, and listened to his band's conversation through the closed hotel bedroom door. It sounded like the boys were in the seating area, apparently worried about someone's reaction to something.
"Of course he's gonna be pissed. I'm pissed."
It was Austin that spoke this time. Jace imagined him tugging his fingers through his thick curls as he spoke, pacing up and down the room.
"Well, unfortunately, us being pissed doesn't change the fact that it exists," Liam spoke, always the voice of reason.
Jace wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but he had other things on his mind, because when he looked to the right, the bed was empty, which meant he was clueless as to the whereabouts of his two year old.
Savannah had officially stopped sleeping in a crib about two months ago and ever since then, she'd been sharing a bed with her father while the band was on tour. She was too small to need a double bed to herself and besides, Jace loved having her curled into his side, her tiny fist clutching the front of his t-shirt as she slept.
Pushing back the covers, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, lowering his feet to the floor and padding towards the door, his fists in his eyes to wipe away the sleep. He heard high pitched squealing as soon as he opened the door.
"Mawneeng Daddy!"
Speaking was also somewhat recent, so her pronunciation wasn't quite correct just yet.
Still, he smiled at the sound of her voice, his eyes instantly locating her on the floor in front of the television, playing with the stuffed bunny Ryan bought her in Paris, the coffee table that usually sat there pushed aside to make space for her play mat.
"Good morning, princess," Jace grinned, walking around to sit on the couch next to Austin and Liam, who had been talking to Ryan as he sat with his legs stretched out on the floor beside Savannah.
"Look, Daddy," Savannah said her blue eyes lighting and her curls bouncing as she stood up beside Ryan and reaching out to tug on his hair, which had been dyed dark green last night after Savannah went to sleep. "Unca Ry hair gween."
"That it is," Jace grinned, proud that she was learning her colors. The fact that she had the ability to practice due to Ryan's fondness for changing his hair every few weeks was a huge help. "It's pretty."
The boys all laughed, sounding more relaxed than their tones had indicated through the door. Jace was still curious, however, as to what all the tension was about, so as Savannah padded over to him and he lifted her into his lap, his arms locking around her stomach to hug her from behind and press a kiss to the top of her head as a good morning greeting, he shot his band mates a questioning look. "What's going on?"
The three of them exchanged wary looks before Liam tugged his fingers through his curls and sighed. "There's something you should see."
Austin lifted his phone from where it was resting on the arm of the couch, turning it on and tapping the screen a few times until he found what he was looking for before holding it out for Jace to see. Furrowing his brow in concentration, Jace scanned the words on the screen, his lips pressing together in anger the more he read.
Secret November: Jace Russo Has An Illegitimate Child
"What the fuck?"
As soon as he spoke, his eyes widened in horror and he looked to down to ensure Savannah hadn't understood, letting out a small sigh of relief when he saw she was still making faces at her stuffed rabbit. Moving one hand so his fingers tickled her stomach and caused her to giggle, he smiled softly as he pressed a kiss to her cheek before speaking quietly next to her ear. "Savi, darling, will you go play on the mat? Your uncles and I need to have a talk."
She didn't understand what that meant, but she knew her father and uncles needed to do something adult like, so she nodded and wiggled her feet as Jace lowered her to the floor, plopping down on the mat again beside Ryan, who kept one eye on her, but leaned forward to participate in the conversation.
Jace rubbed his fingers over his eyes in frustration. "How did this happen?"
It wasn't as though Jace had spent the past year and a half actively denying that he had a child, but he hadn't really announced Savannah's existence to the world either. The truth was that he had no idea what he was doing half the time and figuring out how to raise a child while part of a touring band was difficult and crazy enough without involving the media. As it was, there were fans and paparazzi practically any time they were in public and he didn't want to expose Savannah to that if it wasn't necessary.
So the unaware public never knew she was around. She was carried in and out of venues and hotels through the back doors by members of the crew. If anybody ever saw her, chances were that they probably assumed she was someone else's child.
Besides, none of the boys were known to have been in steady relationships, so it wouldn't make sense for people to connect Savannah to any of them.
But apparently somebody had finally figured it out.
"This is the picture that was posted along with the article." Austin turned the phone towards him to scroll a little further down the page before showing Jace the screen once more.
Jace squeezed his eyes shut at the sight, hoping it might go away, but when they reopened, it was still there. It was a picture of him holding Savannah against his chest, her cheek resting against his shoulder as she slept while he carried her on to a plane at Heathrow.
He really should have accounted for the fact that everybody had cameras in their cell phones, but when he saw her fall asleep at the terminal, all he was thinking about was that she looked utterly adorable and he didn't have the heart to wake her up, which was what would have happened if someone else tried to carry her. She could sense when she wasn't in her father's arms. It wasn't normally a problem and she was perfectly content if she was being carried by one of her uncles or a member of the crew, but she wouldn't have stayed asleep.
"Ok," he sighed, glancing at Savannah, who was making her bunny dance. "But how do they know she's mine?"
Liam shrugged, lacing his fingers together between his parted knees. "Honestly, that part is probably just random guessing. Since they have a picture of you holding her, they probably just decided to name her as yours. And the picture is enough to make anyone believe it. The problem is that if someone starts digging, it's only a matter of time before they concretely prove the truth."
Jace knew Liam was right. Up to a certain point, the general public would be fascinated by the rumors and then move on if nothing else was said about it, but there was always that one reporter who was determined to find the truth and this case, Jace was afraid that ignoring it would only make things worse. He didn't like not being able to control the situation.
Weaving his fingers through his bed head, Jace sighed. "So I should make an official statement?"
"It's up to you," Ryan called out, making his eyes wide and puffing out his cheeks to send Savannah into a giggle fit. "But if you do it, you take away their power to make it into something it's not."
He supposed that was always a bonus. Still, he needed some time to mull over his options, so he set a deadline and decided that a decision on the action needed to be made by the end of the day.
"We better start getting ready," he sighed. The boys didn't question him because they knew Jace would make up his mind in due time. Getting Savannah ready for the day took a little while and they had to leave for soundcheck in a couple hours, so they needed to get a move on. "Savannah? Babe, are you hungry?"
She nodded, rubbing her stomach over the top of her teddy bear nightgown.
"Can you go with Uncle Austin to brush your teeth while I get your breakfast ready?"
Her face lit up and she jumped to her feet, toddling over to Austin, who laughed as he scooped her into his arms and stood to carry her to the bathroom. He held her up by the hips as she brushed her teeth and leaned her over the sink to help her rinse and by the time he was bringing her back into the eating area, their usual room service breakfast of fruit and toast had been delivered and Savannah was lowered into her high chair next to Jace as the rest of the boys sat down to eat.
She nibbled on a piece of toast slathered with butter and drank apple juice from her favorite blue sip cup and afterwards, Jace bathed her in the hotel bathtub while she wore the red polka dotted swimsuit that had been a present from her grandmother.
Liam returned from the room he was sharing with Austin in time to help Savannah get dressed so that Jace could quickly shower and change and Jace was in the process of packing Savannah's bag full of toys and snacks and changes of clothes while she sat in the middle of his bed surrounded by a buffer of pillows when Pete, the head of their security team, knocked on the door of the room he was sharing with Ryan.
"Hey, man," Ryan smiled widely when he answered. "The car already out back?"
Because of Savannah, they had gotten into a routine of leaving out of the back of hotels. They knew there were always groups of fans and paparazzi in the front and although Jace hated that he missed out on meeting fans, his daughter's safety was his number one priority.
The security guard winced, shooting Ryan and then Jace, who was walking towards the front with Savannah on his hip and the strap of her bag slung over his shoulder, an apologetic look. "Actually, there's a bit of a problem. The back road is completely blocked off for some construction they just started, so the car had no choice but to pull around to the front."
"Out front?" Jace's eyebrows shot up as he shifted Savannah against his hip anxiously. "Are there a lot of people out there?"
"A good number of fans," Pete admitted. "And I saw some paparazzi camped out across the street."
Jace held in a curse, but Pete spoke again, knowing exactly what the guitarist was thinking.
"I won't let anything happen to her. I promise."
"Thanks, man," Jace sighed, rubbing a hand soothingly up and down Savannah's back, turning to look at her with a serious expression. "Savi, Uncle Pete's gonna take you to the car. Daddy will meet you there, okay? Stay close to him, promise?"
Savannah nodded, flattening her tiny palms against Jace's cheeks, pressing them in and causing him to laugh. "Pwamise."
"Thank you, sweetheart," Jace nuzzled his nose against hers. "Can I have a kiss?"
She smacked her lips against his loudly and dramatically, giggling as she twisted in his arms and reached out for Pete, prepared to be carried to the car as usual. The security team took turns getting her swiftly in and out of venues and she was used to babbling on about her eventful day as they did so. Pete pulled her against chest, holding her on his arm and smiling as she began to tell him all about the marvels of Ryan's newly green hair.
Jace and Ryan grabbed their duffel bags with their stage clothes – their instruments had been loaded the night before – and followed Pete into the hallway, where Liam and Austin were waiting.
They took deep breaths once they reached the lobby, preparing themselves for the screaming and camera flashes that were bound to occur. Liam stepped out first, his smile wide and hand held up in a wave, Austin and Ryan followed by Savannah and Pete, with Jace bringing up the rear so he could keep an eye on his daughter. The hope was that the fans and paparazzi would be too preoccupied with the first three band members to notice the toddler in the security guard's arms.
It seemed to be going alright for the first few minutes, the boys pausing to take a few selfies with fans, kissing them on the cheek when they asked as Pete and Savannah slowly pushed their way through the crowd. Jace kept one eye on his daughter at all times, his gaze finding her in the crowd after every picture and he felt his heart cracking as he watched her become increasingly scared with each passing minute.
Despite the fact that she wasn't getting too much attention besides the occasional coo about the adorable little girl, she was completely overwhelmed. Never before had she been in the midst of such a large crowd. Adding in the screaming and the flashing lights from the cameras and it was like her own personal hell.
Jace watched as her eyes widened with tears and her bottom lip quivered and when she began to wail he felt his heart shatter completely.
"Daaaaddyyyyyy!"
Handing a fan back her phone, he pushed his way forward, grabbing hold of Savannah who was reaching out towards him, struggling to get out of Pete's grasp, and pulling her against his chest. Cradling the back of her head in his hand, he held her close as her legs locked around his hips and she sobbed into the shoulder of the leather jacket she'd spit up on when she was a baby.
"It's alright, baby," he hushed her, pressing kisses to the top of her head and speaking softly as he pushed his way through the crowd as quickly as possible, ignoring the looks of the shocked fans who were slowly coming to the realization that the rumors were true. "It's alright. I'm right here. Daddy's right here. Everything's alright."
Her wailing stopped once she was in her father's arms and she hiccupped lightly against his chest as he slid into the car beside Liam, shooting Pete a grateful glance as he shut the door and blocked out the noise.
"Well..." Ryan said as Savannah's breathing slowly returned to normal and her sobs became less frequent as the large black SUV pulled out of the hotel drive and onto the street. "That didn't go as planned."
"I just confirmed everything, didn't I?" Jace sighed, his hand rubbing up and down Savannah's back as she curled against his chest and closed her eyes.
"I know this probably isn't what you want to hear," Liam said, "But videos of that are going to be online within the hour. You might need to move up your timeline for deciding what you want to do."
Jace knew he was right, but at the moment, he was more concerned with getting Savannah back to her normal bubbly self, so he hugged her close until her breathing was back to normal, carrying her through the back door of the venue into their dressing room.
She was pretty much back to normal by the time they arrived, the color returning to her cheeks and her usual peppiness bursting through once more. Jace set her down, sighing in relief as he watched her toddle around the room, fascinated by the signed band posters and graffiti decorating the walls.
"She seems to be okay," Austin noted, clasping a hand on Jace's shoulder and squeezing supportively. "Shaken a bit, but okay."
"Yeah," Jace nodded, dropping the bag with his stage clothes on the floor by the couch. "Now I just have to figure out what to do."
"Whatever you decide, bro," Ryan called out, scooping Savannah into his arms and pretending to eat her cheek to send her into a fit of giggles. "We're here for you."
He mulled it over during soundcheck. Normally, one of their crew would watch Savannah in the dressing room while they tuned their instruments and made sure the volume was at the right level. But Jace was still easy about the events that had occurred earlier, so he had her sit in a chair in the audience, sound cancelling headphones securely placed over her ears as she swung her feet off the edge of the seat and dressed up drawings in her sticker book.
By the end of soundcheck, he had come to a decision.
"I want to make a video," he announced to the boys, plopping down behind Savannah on the dressing room floor and stretching his legs out on either side of her, looking over her shoulder and watching as she picked the right shirt sticker for the book character, content from her lunch of fried rice. "To post for the fans."
"Like an Instagram video?" Austin asked, settling back into the worn out leather couch.
"Yeah." Jace tugged affectionately on the end of Savannah's half ponytail. "A sort of introduction, I guess. Now that the information is out there, I want to make sure they know how important she is to me and how much she means to me and that the fact that press is calling her 'illegitimate' is ridiculous."
"It makes sense," Ryan nodded, plopping down beside Austin, Liam finding his seat at the end. "And I don't want to discourage you or anything, but what are you going to say about her mother?"
If he was being honest, Jace hadn't given it much thought. Ever since his lawyers had tracked down Savannah's mother and had her legally sign over her right to custody, she'd been nothing but a distant memory, a fun couple of nights he'd had when he was younger and a little less wiser.
"It's no one's business," Jace replied firmly. Savannah was the only person who had any right to ask questions about her mother and if she did, he planned on answering them honestly.
The boys respected that answer, so Liam dug his phone from his pocket and went to the camera, aiming it at Jace before he spoke. "Just tell me when."
"Thanks, man," Jace smiled gratefully. "Start with just me on the screen. You'll know when to show her."
Poking his tongue between his lips, Liam nodded, training the camera to show only Jace's head and shoulders before pressing the record button and shooting Jace a thumbs up to indicate he should begin.
"Hey guys," Jace raised one hand in a wave, the other planted on the ground behind him, the sound of his voice causing Savannah to tilt her head up at her father in interest. He glanced down at her for a moment, smiling widely as he continued. "I know there are a lot of things being sad about me in the papers and online and I just wanted to clear some things up." Pausing, he nodded for Liam to lower the camera to include Savannah in the shot. "I wanted to introduce you guys to someone. This is Savannah...my daughter."
Savannah looked confused at the mention of her name, so Jace lowered his lips until they were beside her ear and spoke softly. "Sav, honey, can you say hi to the camera?"
She lifted her hand cautiously at first, though her waving became more vigorous and excited when Austin and Ryan made faces and waved at her in return to encourage the action. Giggling, she leaned back into Jace's chest, pulling her sticker book with her.
"She's cute, huh?" Jace laughed, smiling down at her adoringly and affectionately pecking the top of her head before grinning at the camera. "That's all I really wanted to say. Hope you guys are doing good and thanks for always sticking by us. You're the best. Love you."
"Lub youuu!" Savannah echoed, waving her hand once more, not knowing what was going on, but practicing her speech by copying her father as she'd been doing for the past few months.
Laughing, Jace raised a hand in a goodbye wave. "Bye guys."
Liam ended the recording and they all let out a deep exhale as he posted the video to the band's Instagram account.
He was slightly on edge during the show. On one hand, he was glad the video was posted and out there because it gave him a chance to take control of the situation, but on the other he wasn't sure how the fans and the media were going to respond. He didn't ask them about it during the show, thinking it an inappropriate forum, but after the show, when he returned to the dressing room to find Savannah still awake, playing with a spare set of Liam's drumsticks while she wore her noise cancelling headphones, he held her in his lap as he sat on the couch and checked the comments below the video.
They seemed positive for the most part, wishing him luck and saying he'd probably make a great dad. Of course, there were the negative ones sprinkled in, saying he was irresponsible and stupid for getting a girl knocked up in the first place, but he supposed that came with the territory.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he stuffed his phone into his pocket and wrapped his arms around Savannah's middle, holding her close to his chest. "You tired, Sav?"
Nodding, she blinked her eyes slowly, sleep beginning to overcome her small body.
"Let's get you to bed, huh?" he asked, kissing the top of her head.
He lay her down on the couch to take a nap while they packed up their things, but squatted down beside her and gently shook her awake once they were ready to go. It was possible that she wouldn't have woken up while he carried her out, but he didn't want her to be scared if her eyes fluttered open on the way to the car and she noticed the crowd of people outside.
"Hey, sweetie," he whispered as her eyes slowly opened, brushing her curls away from her forehead. "We're gonna go out to the car now, okay?"
She nodded.
He paused before he continued. "Remember when we were coming and there were a lot of people?"
Her eyes widened in fear and he stroked her head gently to keep her calm. "That might happen again, but don't be scared, okay? I'm going to be with you the whole time."
He'd decided that he would be the one to carry her out. Since everybody now knew about her anyway, it didn't make sense to have the security guards do it anymore.
"Pwomise?" she whispered, the fear in her voice making his heart ache.
"I promise," he nodded, lowering his hands to beneath her shoulders and lifted her off the couch, standing up and holding her beneath her bottom so she could lie against his chest and attempt to sleep, her eyes fluttering closed once more as her hand reached up to grip his t-shirt in her little fist. His other hand rubbed circles into her back because he knew it helped calm her down, and he shot the other boys a grateful smile when they helped to carry his bags.
Taking a deep breath, he hugged his daughter tight and kissed the top of her head and he and Savannah went out to face the screaming masses the same way they would end up facing all their obstacles: together.