Rebecca doesn't think she's felt prouder of the band as she did right now.
She had been there when they'd played the tiny overcrowded pubs, watched as they struggled their way through recording and shitty contracts, seen the ups and downs that came with fame.
Everything, she feels, has been leading up to right now.
The crowd cheers loudly when Freddie plays the opening notes of Bohemian Rhapsody.
"Mama, just killed a man..."
Mary squeezes between David and Jim so she's standing beside her girls, wrapping one arm around Becca's as the four of them watch their boys giving it their all.
The transition from Bo-Rhap to Radio Ga Ga is seamless; Freddie hops to his feet and Ellie screams loudly when she recognises the notes coming from Brian and John's guitars.
"Mummy!" she grins, looking over her shoulder, "Mummy, it's my song!"
Freddie has the crowd in the palm of his hand as he directs them to wave their arms back and forth as he begins the first verse.
"I sit alone and watch your light,"
Even over their instruments and Freddie's singing, they could hear the crowd singing along loud and clear, throwing their arms up once more when he tells them to when they reach the chorus.
"Everybody! All we hear is, radio ga ga, radio goo goo-"
Ellie, Charlotte and Heather are all clapping along with them, little arms in the air as Ellie screams out the lyrics with Freddie and Rebecca is so glad that Hannah has her camera because she doesn't ever want to forget the excited looks on their children's faces as they listen to their fathers and uncles.
She can't tear her eyes from Freddie as he moves around the stage; as always, he's putting on the best damn show he can and she can't believe that just three days ago, Roger was telling her that Freddie was having trouble with his voice.
She doesn't even realise that the song is over until she hears the crashing of Roger's cymbals and she snaps out of it, cheering along with the others and as the band go about getting ready for the next song, Freddie steps up to the front of the stage, brings the mic to his lips and opens his mouth.
"Ay-Oh!"
The response is immediate.
"Ah-Oh!"
Rebecca has never heard anything like it.
"Ayyyyy-Oh!"
100,000 people singing back to him.
"Ay-Oh!"
It truly was incredible.
"De-da-di-da-di-da-di-de-do!"
She thinks she'll remember this for as long as she lives.
"Alright!"
She and Mary laugh quietly as the crowd sings that final line and they waste no time in launching into the next song.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, Hammer to Fall!"
Rebecca squeals like a teenage fangirl. Hammer to Fall is one of her favourite songs, especially when they perform it live. There's something about it that just makes her want to jump around and part of her wishes that she was in the middle of that large crowd doing just that. (a/n; Hammer to Fall is my absolute fave part of live aid. always will be.)
But she makes do with just singing along, watching the two girls in front dancing and spinning around with each other.
Roger looks in their direction a couple of times but she's not entirely sure if he can see them. He hasn't got his glasses or his sunglasses on (they're just not rock and roll enough, love) so she's going to go with that he can't see them but that doesn't stop Heather waving at him from where she's still on Jim's shoulders.
They've seemed to have chosen their best-known songs for their set, smart really because though the crowd was hyped up before they'd come on, they were going crazy now and when Freddie gets given his own guitar, Rebecca knows exactly what song is coming up next. Freddie only gets the guitar for one song...
Rebecca isn't sure how they're managing to cram all of these songs into their twenty minutes but somehow, they're doing it.
After Crazy Little Thing Called Love, they go straight into We Will Rock You.
Her eyes stray towards Roger when he starts the opening beat, watching him hit the drums with such vigour...it's one of her favourite things to watch him do.
She had thought hearing 20,000 people stamping and clapping to the beat was amazing but this, this was something else.
It was deafening.
Their closing song was We Are The Champions and that, that is when Rebecca, like she did when they'd played Madison Square Garden, gets another overwhelming sense of pride.
That's her husband out there. Her best friends. Her family and as she listens to the crowd sing their hearts out, she can't stop the tears from welling in her eyes and looking around her, she can see that Mary and Hannah are in the same state she is.
"No time for losers 'cause we are the champions," Freddie sings, voice breaking before he pauses for a couple of seconds, "Of the world!"
And then, it's over. The crowd erupts once more as Roger gets up from behind his kit, hopping down off of the drum risers to join the others on the main stage, patting Brian on the back as he does the same to him.
"So long, goodbye!" Freddie yells into the mic, the crowd getting louder, "We love you!"
Roger holds his sticks in the air as a goodbye before they're heading backstage once more and Rebecca makes sure that Ellie and Charlotte are with them as they too are escorted out of the area.
"Stay with us," Mary instructs, taking Ellie's hand while Charlotte latches onto Hannah.
It takes a few minutes to find the band again; backstage is just a mass of people and it isn't until Heather (who is still on Jim's shoulders) points them in the right direction, to the middle of the crowd where the band are being congratulated and praised for giving such a good performance.
As they got closer, they just hear Bob Geldof telling them that they'd hit their target of 1million pounds during their slot.
Rebecca is still an emotional wreck as Jim puts Heather down so she and Ellie can dart off towards Roger, who turns around when they call for him.
"Hey!" he grins, catching Heather when she jumps at him.
"Daddy! Daddy, did you hear me singing?" Ellie asks, tugging at the bottom of his white shirt, "Did you hear me sing my song?"
"I did," he grins, humouring her -though she doesn't know that- as he ruffles her hair and Rebecca watches them with a smile on her face, "You sang so loud!"
"Did you hear me?" Heather asked, "I sang louder!"
"Did not!"
Roger laugh, looking up as she approaches and he lowers Heather back to the floor as she and Ellie continue to argue.
Rebecca wraps her arms around his neck, hiding her face in his neck but he does feel her lips brushing against the warm skin.
"What's this for?" he asks, repeating the same words he'd said to her that morning and when she pulls back, he sees that she's been crying and he frowns, "Love?"
"'m just proud of you," she whispers, "God, Rog, you did so good."
He shrugs his shoulders, looking somewhat bashful, "Was Freddie mostly."
She shakes her head, kissing him softly as they're joined with the rest of the band and Roger reluctantly lets her go so she can make her usual rounds of congratulating the band before they're ushered towards the backstage area again so they could change out of their sweaty stage clothes and possibly have a drink.
And as soon as they were backstage, Elton John came tearing into the area, "You absolute bastards! You've only gone and stolen the whole bloody show! That was incredible!"
There were some cheers in agreement and Roger looked down at his wife to see her looking at him with complete adoration and he chuckles softly, "Stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?" she whispers.
"Stop," he blushes.
She was completely in awe of them all right now.
||-||
Brian and Freddie had been invited to sing again toward the end of the gig and so there was quite a lot of waiting around once more but hey, they got to relax with some of the biggest names in music so no one was complaining.
They finally left the stadium at around half past ten and although it was late, the band were still on a massive high from performing and so Freddie and Jim invited everyone back to Garden Lodge so they could have a few drinks and such.
At their house, Rebecca rang home to see if her mum wouldn't mind staying the night to watch over the twins, which of course, she really didn't mind and so after saying goodnight, she returned to the living room, which was where everyone else was but her husband and daughters were noticeably absent.
"The poor little angels were exhausted," Freddie says, "And since you're all staying the night I told him to go on upstairs with them."
Thanking him quietly, Rebecca disappears upstairs and it doesn't take long for her to find the room Roger has chosen for the night, pushing the already slightly ajar door open wider.
The girls are laying on the large mattress, two of Freddie's cats milling around at the bottom of the bed trying to get comfortable with them. Heather is already fast asleep and Ellie's eyes are close to shutting but she's talking quietly to Roger as he tucks her in.
"Did you really hear me singing along, daddy?" she asks, rubbing at her tired eyes, "Even over all those other people?"
"I did," he nods.
"Even over Uncle Freddie?"
He leans down and kisses her forehead, "Even over Uncle Freddie."
Catching Rebecca's movement in the corner of her eye, Ellie turns to the doorway and looks at her, giving her a tired wave, "Hi mummy."
"Hi, Sprout," Rebecca whispers and Roger grins as she crosses the short distance between the door and the bed so she can kiss them goodnight. She kisses Heather's forehead first before walking around the bed to kiss Ellie, "Goodnight, love."
"Night-night."
She's out within minutes and Roger gets up to wrap his arm around Becca as they walk towards the door but before they leave, they pause and take a moment just to watch them sleep.
"We did alright, didn't we?" he whispers, making her smile and stand up on her tip toes so she can kiss his cheek.
"We did great."
The pair return downstairs and as they step into the living room, they're both handed a glass of champagne from Freddie and Jim has just finished setting some little snacks down on the table in the middle of the room.
Hannah and John are sat on the couch, Brian and Alice on the floor in front of them and Freddie and Jim are on the opposite couch and so Roger falls down onto the free loveseat, pulling her hand to get her to sit beside him.
She sits down gently so she doesn't spill her drink automatically curling up next to her husband as he drapes his arm over the back of the seat as they listen to Brian talk animatedly.
That twenty-minute gig had solidified that they belonged together. They were stronger as a band, a force to be reckoned with and realising that, they weren't going to let it go to waste. They had plans. A lot of plans.
And as she listens to them talk, Rebecca realises that they could do all of it; tours, albums, everything. Because right now, after that performance, at that moment, they truly were the champions.
||-||
😭😭 this is it, the end of the story. i didn't think i would be so sad to be saying goodbye to roger and rebecca but i am
i just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to each and every one of you who have read and supported this story, i couldn't have done it without you!
^
me whenever one of you commented or messaged me during the writing of this.