Liz had just pulled the last hairpin from between her teeth to set a curl behind her ear when her phone began to play Dave's version of "Over the Hills and Far Away". She smiled, remembering how he'd recorded it for her late one night in Ireland when neither of them could sleep and checked the antique clock on the dresser beside her before answering.
"Hey! You almost here?"
"Hey," his deep sigh sent her heart plummeting, "I'm so sorry, baby."
Clearing her throat of the lump that was beginning to form, she shook away the oncoming tears. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," he insisted. "Everything's fine. I'm just... they want me to stay for this dinner and I can't-"
"It's okay," she said quickly, internally trying to convince herself it really was okay, "I totally get it. Is the food good at least?"
His chuckle warmed her a bit, knowing he probably felt terrible about missing her birthday dinner. "No. Some sort of bird. I think it's a quail or a partridge. All bone, no meat."
"Hmmm... sounds like your wife."
"Kinda!" his laugh was genuine but faded quickly. "I'm really sorry, baby. I'm so fucking terrible at birthdays."
"Um...," she glanced up at the huge bouquet of English roses he'd given her at breakfast and smiled. "Yeah. But honestly, David, it's nice to know you suck at something."
He huffed a short laugh and murmured, "I feel really bad, Liz."
"Don't. I'll just catch you after dinner. Maybe we all can get a drink or something."
"Yeah, of course. I'll see you tonight, okay? Have fun with Paul."
"I will. Text me if you can."
"Absolutely. I love you."
Pulling the phone from her cheek, she stared down at it a moment and let out a shuddering sigh. He was terrible at birthdays, but she was 35 years old and her husband was one of the busiest people in the music industry, so what the hell did she expect? She swiped to end the call and turned back to the mirror to finish getting ready.
*
Dave kept the phone pressed to his ear, unable to break the connection from her so soon and heard her dejected sigh.
"Fuck," he groaned feeling physically ill.
"Disco?"
He tossed his phone onto the table in front of him and raked his hair off his face to look up at Taylor, "Holy shit that hurt."
Taylor frowned through his mouthful of pizza, "Bad?"
"Pretty sure I just ripped her heart out and drop kicked it across the continent."
His drummer's heavy hand landed on his shoulder and gave him a supportive shake. "Come on. They're waiting for us."
*
"Give them some space, please! Back up!"
Liz felt herself being pulled along and while she was pretty sure Paul was the one leading the way, she couldn't be sure with so many people and cameras surrounding them. They were all so close, almost on top of them and she just wanted to be somewhere a bit quieter, a bit less... chaotic.
She'd blown through half a bottle of wine while waiting for Paul to pick her up, hoping to drown her sorrows in the alcohol while at the same time improving her mood for dinner, but all it did was make her feel worse. Her senses were dulled just enough that the rest of her felt the need to overcompensate, which only resulted in her being on edge.
Pressing her black clutch to her ear to block out the shouts from the photographers and the restaurant's staff, she wished Dave were there. She wished it was him guiding her through the mass of people, wished it was him she was being propped up alongside to smile at the flashes with and wished he was the one sitting beside her at the private VIP table, perusing the pretentious French menu. But she looked up into Paul's kind smile and mentally kicked herself when he refilled her wine glass with a sweet, "Happy birthday, love" and flipped her phone to vibrate.
*
With every hand he shook and every greeting he suffered through, Dave felt worse and worse. It was creeping up on eight in the evening and they still weren't finished.
"Almost done, dude," Taylor promised.
"Yeah," he muttered and hung his head, unable to get over the sickening feeling that he'd ditched her on her birthday.
"Hey, look!" Pat called, running over with his phone held high, "She's on the news!"
Dave practically dove at him, tearing his phone from his hand to examine the photo on the screen. "Ah, fuck," he groaned.
"What?" Taylor asked, peeking over his shoulder. "She's having a great time!"
The article's lead photo was of her and Paul posing in front of the restaurant. She looked gorgeous in her leather jacket, long black satin slip dress with the slit far up the leg and her killer stilettos, but there was something off in her eyes. Scrolling further into the story, he found a grainy photo of her at the table with Paul, casually sipping her wine in the candlelight. She looked relaxed, reclined back in her chair with a smile on her face, but he spotted her left hand dangling limply at her side and her ring turned inward.
"I gotta go," he said suddenly, shoving the phone back at Pat.
"Dude, no," Taylor jumped in, slinging his arm around Dave's shoulders. "We have to finish up here. You'll see her soon."
*
Paul held her hand and pulled her through the crowd out front, laughing like an excited toddler the whole way.
"Where's the hip place for drinks nowadays, lads?" he asked casually to the crowd of photographers as he opened the car door for Liz.
"The Chiltern Firehouse, sir!" one man yelled. "The Jenner sisters were spotted there just an hour ago!"
"Right, then," Paul announced, "We'll see you gentlemen at the Chiltern, then!"
Liz quickly checked her phone while Paul sauntered around to the driver's side, frowning when her notifications were blank. Pushing away all the disappointment and self-pity she was feeling, she smiled when Paul started the car. "So, what's this Chiltern place?"
"Oh no, love," Paul laughed. "We have plans elsewhere. This just keeps them off our tail. I do have to make a quick stop at the studio for some paperwork, though. Are you feeling up for that?"
"Of course. I'll never turn down a trip to the Abbey," she smiled and sat back in her seat, letting the excitement of seeing Abbey Road again replace all her sadness.
The studio's gate had barely closed behind them before Paul was out and on the move, pulling her to the back loading doors with such purpose that Liz was beginning to wonder what the hell was so important about this paperwork.
"You see," he told her once they were at the service entrance, "People think I own this place when I really don't. Sure, I have stock and whatnot, but it's not like I can open the doors and wander in whenever I feel like it," he said it as he was literally unlocking the doors and letting them in, making her giggle, "I still do, but that's not the point."
Liz was full on belly laughing now, bracing herself on the wall to keep herself upright in heels.
"Come on, love!" he called over his shoulder as he jogged down the dark hallway. "The quicker we get the papers the sooner we can get those drinks!"
So she trotted along behind him until Paul dipped into the control room for Studio Three, the same space she had recorded her composition piece in.
"It's haunted, you know," Paul said casually as she ran her fingers over the mixing board, "Mrs. Mills drops in every so often to play the upright."
"Does she?" Liz mused, peering out into the dark studio at the piano in the corner. "Can't say I really blame her."
"Now where in the bloody hell did he put...," Paul muttered and frowned, rifling through a binder placed near the soundboard while Liz spotted a stack of papers on an end table only to sigh when she found they were take-out menus.
After a few more fruitless minutes of digging through random stacks of papers, Paul straightened up. "Well, that's probably enough of that," he smiled and took her hand, dragging her once again down a long hallway to the equipment loading door on the side of Studio One.
The equipment doors weren't connected to the main hallway and therefore not as well insulated, giving away the sound of a band playing inside. Liz looked questioningly over at Paul and he gave her a moment to let the realization kick in.
"He didn't," she whispered, her hand flying to her throat.
"Oh, he absolutely did, darling. He's been planning this for months."
She took in a sharp breath and stepped back, her hand moving up to cover her mouth as if that would keep her tears at bay. "Gimme just a minute," she mewled.
"I should really start a matchmaking service," Paul mused smugly as he leaned against the door, "I think I did a pretty good job with you lot."
"Yeah... yep," Liz laughed through her tears and sniffled as she tried to salvage her makeup. "You did."
It took her another few minutes to pull herself together and Paul waited patiently, hugging her tightly when it all became too much for her to hold in.
"He loves you so much, Elizabeth. He's loved you from the moment I put you in front of him."
She held her breath as she waited, expecting some long, flowery speech about her and Dave's love, but only received a grin. "I'm only eloquent in my songs, Elizabeth. Now, are you ready?"
"Are they going to yell?" she asked, trying to prepare herself for what she was about to walk into.
"Oh, probably," he chuckled and let her go to quietly open the door. "You know how these surprise parties are."
But instead of a roar, they were met with the backs of a crowd busy watching a band playing on a stage set up on the opposite side of the room. Relieved at being spared the jarring custom of nearly a hundred people screaming, "Surprise!" at her, Paul gave her shoulders a quick squeeze before weaving his way toward the stage. Feeling a little exposed now that she was alone, she took a moment to look around and spotted Virginia at the very back of the crowd dancing with Owen in one arm and twirling Ophelia with the other while Jack and Harper hopped around beside them, laughing loudly and happily.
She was fighting back another wave of tears when she jumped at the feeling of a hand grasping hers.
"Hey, Liz," Violet smiled casually, but her eyes sparkled with the excitement of getting away with something so huge, "Happy Birthday."
Liz roughly grabbed Violet's shoulder and yanked her into a hug, "I missed you so much!"
"I missed you, too," she giggled and scrunched up her nose as Liz covered her face in kisses.
"When did you get here?"
"Dad picked us up this afternoon. Grandma flew over with us and-"
Liz's jaw dropped at the notion of Virginia dealing with five kids on a trans-Atlantic flight, but she didn't have any time to dwell on it since Jack and Ophelia were climbing on her.
"Oh, my loves! I missed you all so much! I can't ever be away from you for this long ever again!" she cried, kneeling down to kiss their faces. Harper and Owen were next, giggling into their onslaught of lipstick marks and Liz didn't stop until they were actively shoving her away. "Fine. Go dance!" she called after them as they ran off in a flurry of laughter. "Don't worry about little old me! I'll be fine!"
Virginia was waiting nearby, happily watching the reunion until it was her turn to greet Liz with a hug, "Happy birthday, darling."
"Thank you," Liz felt herself blushing, "Did you really have to deal with all five of them by yourself?"
"Oh, goodness no," she laughed loudly, throwing her head back as if Liz had said something hysterical, "I had-"
"Is she here?"
Dave's voice through the speakers interrupted them and they looked up to see him covering his eyes against the stage lights to look out into the crowd.
"He's been as nervous as a cat all evening," Virginia told her out of the corner of her mouth. "Poor Taylor has been talking him down from the walls for hours."
"What? Why?" Liz frowned, keeping her gaze on Dave. He'd been so relaxed the entire trip, but now he looked tense even from across the room.
"He feels terrible about your dinner," she smiled and linked her arm with Liz's so they could walk to the stage together. "But you know how he is. He just wanted everything to be perfect."
His face lit up when he finally spotted her, then handed off his guitar. "I'm not gonna drag her up here cause she'll kill me if I do," he told the small crowd, "But I'm gonna make her stand front and center for this one."
Liz quickly greeted the people closest to her as she was situated between her mother and Virginia at the very edge of the stage while Dave settled behind the drum kit, Paul strapped on his violin bass, Josh appeared from nowhere with a guitar and finally, her dad shuffled up behind him with his favorite Les Paul.
"You ready, Sunshine?" he beamed down at her and she nodded excitedly, thrilled that he was fulfilling his ultimate dream of playing a song with Paul McCartney.
The first riff of the song made her heart flutter and she tore her stare away for a split second as Jack jumped around beside her, "Mommy! It's your birthday song!"
She laughed and scooped him up, holding him tightly in her arms even though he was almost too big for it anymore and danced along to the music.
"You say it's your birthday..."
It all felt like a magical blur. Everyone she loved was crammed into the building that had produced the soundtrack to her life and she felt an overwhelming sense of peace. From that spot on the parquet floor, the outside world ceased to exist.
"Can you die from happiness?" she laughed as she danced with her mom.
"If that's the case, sweetheart, we'd all have been six feet under an hour ago!"
*
It felt like hours before Dave built up the courage to wind his arm around her middle, "Can I steal you for a moment?"
Josh and Brody waved them away with a laugh as Dave steered her toward the vocal booths, taking a moment to make sure no one was following them before slipping inside. He knew her feet were hurting when she sagged against him at the sight of the leather couch in the control room, but he kept her moving through five more doors until they were climbing the steps to the upper level.
Studio One's upstairs consisted of an open balcony that overlooked the large space below and a lounge situated behind a big window with a seating area and a separate green room for artists to hide away in.
Dave kept the lights off in the lounge area and hung back as she moved to the windows to watch the party raging down below. They were quiet for a while, giving him time to assess her mood.
"Surprise," he finally murmured.
"How was your quail?" she asked flatly, keeping her eyes on the kids running around wildly.
"Super fucking gross," he admitted, the ache in his chest growing sharper and more pronounced. "Taylor and I got KFC on the way here."
Her shoulders squared and she turned away from the windows, shadowing her face enough that he couldn't read her expression, but he sensed she was hurt.
"I'm so sorry about dinner," he insisted, shoving away from the door. "I wanted to-"
She met him in the middle of the room, crashing into him so hard that they fell back into the wall that separated the lounge from the green room.
"I love you," she breathed against the edge of his mouth, "So fucking much."
"You're not pissed I skipped dinner?"
"David, you flew everyone I love halfway around the world just for a party. Fuck dinner."
"But-"
"Will you shut up and just make out with me, please?" she whined, tipping her head back to pout at him.
"Fine," he grumbled, sliding his hands down her ribcage, "But only because it's your birthday."
The whole 'making out' situation escalated quicker than he had anticipated and although he was pretty sure no one would come up to bother them, there was enough doubt in his mind to make him worry.
"God, this fucking dress," he groaned, sliding his hand into the black satin slit and hitching her thigh up around his hip.
"How much time do we have?" she asked, her voice so thick and breathy that he grabbed the back of her other leg and lifted her onto him before staggering toward the green room.
"Paul took your parents on a tour. They'll be in Studio Two for at least an hour."
She didn't answer, unable or unwilling to keep her lips off of him for a moment until he set her down to unlatch the door and they stumbled inside. He dragged her along, heading straight for the tiny bathroom at the back of the space knowing that the more locked doors they could put between themselves and the party, the better. But as soon as they wrenched open the door, Liz jumped back in surprise.
"Jesus!" she hissed, gripping Dave's shirt to keep herself upright.
"Hey, guys!" Taylor awkwardly smiled up at them while trying to keep himself and a fiercely blushing Allison covered up with just his suit jacket. "Happy birthday, Liz!"
"Thanks," she giggled and turned away to pull on Dave's arm, "Come on. This one's occupied."
*
"Okay, one more and then I'm going straight home to bed," Paul laughed into the mic set on top of the baby grand piano. "And a few words about the birthday girl before I do... I've already told this to David once or twice, but I'll say it to you all now. You don't get a song like this with just any woman..."
Dave didn't miss the look Paul gave him as he said it and reached over to spin Liz into his side. Had she been any other girl he would have asked her formally, 'May I have this dance...' or some other cheesy as hell line, but this was Elizabeth and she was more likely to jab him with her elbow than swoon at a move like that. So just as the first bars of the song rang out, he kept his arm firmly around her middle and took her hand.
"Oh, we're dancing?" she giggled shyly up at him.
"We're gonna try," he laughed back, feeling the eyes of almost a hundred people on them.
"Maybe I'm amazed at the way you love me all the time..."
"This is very romantic comedy-ish," she mused, looking over his shoulder to the crowd behind him.
"Yeah, it is. If we weren't already married, this would be the perfect time to ask you."
"In front of all these people?"
"Hell yeah, in front of all these people," he cried, "That way you can't say no!"
She rolled her eyes at that, "I actually kinda love the way you asked me."
"I asked you, while wasted, in some shitty bar in Vegas, Elizabeth. I didn't even get down on one knee," he was aware of the conversation taking a different turn from the joking manner it started with, but he was beginning to realize that the way he'd asked her really did bother him. "You deserve better than that."
"Oh, fuck all that," she said dismissively, "Perception is nine-tenths of the law, David."
"That's... not..."
"I know, shut up," she grinned, "I'm trying to tell you that I wouldn't change a thing. We've been through a lot in-," she paused to laugh at his emphatic head nod, "Yeah, a lot- in a year and a half and we're still sneaking away to make out in back rooms so..."
"... So, we're good?"
"We are so good."
*
After the dancing and drinks and seeing the kids off back to the house with their grandparents, Liz finally flopped down onto the wooden floor beside Allison.
"Sorry we interrupted you earlier," she offered.
"Eh," Allison waved her off, "Don't worry about it. I was done, but Taylor was taking his sweet time."
They dissolved into giggles just as Josh sauntered over with an almost empty glass of whiskey.
"We're going out, ladies" he smiled down at them. "We've got VIP at The Roundhouse."