Gift of Song

Surprisingly, the next month passed fairly quickly for the rock ‘n’ roll quintet and their families. Sure, they were stressed out from last-minute recording for Set the World on Fire since they doubted they’d be able to finish recording on top of mixing and mastering when they got back in early-May. The release date was June fourteenth, and ten days later, they were setting out to embark on Warped Tour 2011. If they’d managed to stretch out the recording and still be able to mix and master the album before its release, it would’ve been a miracle to see it happen.

They’d all gotten to know Marissa and Shelby better during that time, too. There were several times that Marissa had to work odd hours at the hospital and didn’t want to leave her daughter alone, so she’d end up spending the night with either Andy and Ash, or Jinxx and Sammi, and helping out with Rori or Logan, sometimes both. It was very obvious that she loved the kids and vice versa, which led to her getting the job as touring babysitter.

After weeks of prepping and packing, Ash was upstairs in his and Andy’s bedroom napping, their daughter laying on the bed beside him. He’d seemed a bit rundown lately, but considering all the stress he was under, it would be no surprise to find out he’d started getting sick right before the beginning of a tour. It was bound to happen sooner or later, no matter how hard he tried to stay healthy, if only for their daughter’s sake, and it was just of a matter of when, not if.

For the moment, Andy was in their little mini studio at the back of the house, trying to help Jinxx finish some last-minute violin tracking for Saviour, the song they used as Rori’s lullaby, before Jake took over with the production aspect. Not only was the lead guitarist a killer musician, but he was a genius when it came to production and engineering, as well. It only made sense that, if he didn’t mix, master, and produce the entire album himself, he’d at least get it started before they left for tour, then let someone else take over and finish it. For now they had a bit of time to kill, and he needed something to keep him busy since he’d already finishing his pre-tour packing, so he’d offered to carve up his brain for a while, so to speak.

“Finally done?” he asked Jinxx as he stepped out of the soundproof booth.

“Finally,” the multi-instrumentalist sighed. He set his bow and violin down in its case, which rested on a stool nearby, and started clenching and unclenching his fist. “I think I’m gonna need a wrist brace for the rest of the day.”

“Hey, do whatever ya gotta so ya don’t end up having to be replaced for part of the tour,” Jake said sympathetically.

“We both know years of playing start to get to ya eventually,” he agreed.

“Even I know that, and I don’t play nearly as much.” Andy nodded his agreement. “The only other one who knows as well as you two is upstairs asleep.”

“Okay, so that’s the last of the recording, right?” the hazel-eyed man asked, looking at both of them.

“Pretty sure it is,” they answered in unison.

“Let’s take one last listen, make sure there’s not any parts that need to be perfected or redone altogether,” he suggested. “After that, I’ll get started on the mixing and mastering, and hopefully get it all done before we leave.”

“Sounds like a plan to us,” Jinxx agreed, taking a seat beside Andy.

The three of them sat in their little group, listening to everything they’d recorded for this album. They kinda wished CC was there to take a listen to his drum rhythms and make sure there wasn’t anything he wanted to perfect, but he was sick and had been for a while. They weren’t exactly sure what was going on, but they hoped he was feeling better soon since they really didn’t want to have to get a replacement for the tour. With that thought in mind, they got back to work so they could finish early and spend time with their loved ones.


In the tiny town house he’d rented for himself and his seven-year-old sister, Casey, CC was on the verge of ripping his long, raven-black hair out of his head. He’d been sick for several days now, but this morning was the worst of them all. For the fifth morning in a row, he woke up feeling nauseous and barely had time to get a pair of boxers on before he ran for the bathroom, leaving his guts in the toilet almost as soon as he hit his knees in front of it. Considering that it was early-March and they were still on the fringes of cold and flu season, he wondered if it was the flu, but wasn’t sure.

He hadn’t been running a fever, which he would’ve known without any of the guys having to tell him since he knew the symptoms of a fever, and although he woke up feeling sick, he felt better as the day progressed. Even little Casey was starting to worry about him, having her nurse check on him when he’d disappear into his room during her naptime since she knew he wasn’t feeling well.

The nurse, whose name was Becki, was stumped as to what could be causing his illness, but did her best to care for him, as well as his sister. He’d told her not to worry about him, that she’d been hired to take care of Casey, but she insisted, so he didn’t fight her. To be honest, he didn’t want anyone but Jake taking care of him while he was sick, but Jake was over at Andy’s house with the rest of the guys, finishing up the recording of Set the World on Fire before he began the mixing and mastering, which would likely be finished by someone else after they left for tour. And honestly, thinking about tour right now just made his already-pounding head hurt worse since he knew it was a bitch to be sick on the road.

When he was finally able to pull his head out of the toilet, CC sat weakly on his bathroom floor in front of it for a moment before even attempting to stand. He felt a little dizzy from the head rush he got and his skin was clammy, but he brushed it off. That happened every time he’d ever thrown up in his life, regardless of how violently his guts decided to leave his body. After flushing the toilet, he carefully made his way over to the sink so he could brush his teeth and rinse his mouth out to get rid of the acidic taste left there.

“Hey, Ash. Think you can come over for a few minutes?” He tapped the “Send” button to send the text he’d typed out to his friend.

“Sure. Hope you don’t mind me bringing Rori,” his friend answered.

“It’s fine. I know the rest of the guys are busy finishing up STWOF before Jake starts mixing and mastering,” CC told him, feeling nauseous again.

“All right. Lemme get us dressed and grab a few things, then I’ll head out,” Ash texted to him.

He saw no point in responding to that particular text, but he decided to keep his phone on him, anyway. When he felt well enough to walk more than three feet, he trudged over to his closet to grab a pair of skinny jeans and a wife beater. He didn’t exactly feel like wearing anything but his boxers, but he knew the guys got enough of seeing him naked or in his underwear while on tour; he wasn’t going to torture them at home, too.

“Hey, Becki!” he called, his head stuck out his bedroom door.

“Yeah, Chris?” she answered. She never called him CC, Ceece, or Chuppy like the guys did.

“Ash is gonna be over here with his daughter in a little bit. Let him in, if he even bothers knocking,” he told her.

“Not feeling well enough to walk downstairs?” Becki now stood at the foot of the staircase so they could see each other.

“Not really. I think my body’s trying to tell me that I don’t need my guts anymore,” CC answered.

“Sounds like the flu or food poisoning,” she told him thoughtfully.

“That’s just the thing, though. I’m not running a fever and haven’t been, and I can’t really keep anything down long enough to get food poisoning in the first place,” he told her, stepping out enough to lean against the doorjamb.

“Have you put on a few pounds, Chris?” she asked. Her tone wasn’t one that was trying to put him down, but one of curiosity.

“Not that I’ve noticed,” he answered. “I’d have thought I’d lose weight since I can’t keep anything down.”

“Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me from this angle,” she said. “I could’ve sworn it looked like your jeans were a little tighter.”

Now that he thought about it, they did feel a little tighter around his waist, but he wasn’t going to admit that to her. “Just let Ash in and tell him I’m in my room, okay?”

“All right. Will do, Chris.”

With a smile and a nod of thanks, he went back into his room and closed the door, leaning against it as he sighed heavily. Considering what Andy’d caught he and Jake in the middle of that afternoon Jinxx and Sammi dragged him and Ash out on a double date, he thought that maybe he wasn’t sick after all, but wasn’t sure. Now that Becki’d sworn his jeans looked tighter and he realized they actually felt tighter, he really wanted Ash to hurry up and get here.

No one would know other than the bassist if he might be right, or how to help him get through it, and that was the reason he’d asked him to come over. The last time he’d had a reason to suspect this, he was thirteen, had been raped by his father, and didn’t even know about his “gift”. And even then, since he didn’t know about said “gift”, he didn’t really have a reason to suspect it then.

CC sighed heavily as he laid down on his bed, his head at the foot with his feet on the pillows so he could lay on his right side and still see the door. Yeah, he was a strange one and often got told that they broke the mold with him, but he’d prefer to be strange over what most people defined as “normal” any day of the week. It was no wonder he’d accepted and embraced the news he got at thirteen quicker than probably any other guy besides Ash would’ve, and he knew it. That thought just made him groan as his stomach roiled again, and he gently laid a hand over it, praying for it to stop.

KNOCK KNOCK! “You okay in there, Ceece?”

“C’mon in, Ash,” he answered weakly, swallowing quickly to try to avoid throwing up again.

“Wow… There’s only one way to really describe you right now…” Ash said, gasping when he saw how he looked.

“Yeah, I know…I look like shit,” CC whispered. “I feel like it, too.”

“Do you need me to take you to the doctor?” his friend asked, sitting down next to him as he stroked his hair back out of his face.

“That might…” His eyes widened and his bolted upright, his sentence cut off by the sudden clenching of his stomach. “Ah, fuck…”

Without another word, he jumped up off the bed and darted into the bathroom, dropping to his knees at the same time he opened the lid. Ash was hot on his heels to make sure he was all right, kneeling down beside him as he pulled his hair back and rubbed soothing circles on his back. For a moment, he almost thought he was going to head-butt the edge of the bowl so hard he broke his nose from the force of his retching, but thankfully, his friend’s grip on his hair kept him from doing just that.

After a few minutes of dry heaving since he had nothing left for his stomach to reject, CC fell backward against his chest weakly. He was panting and clammy from the force his body had used to make him retch, and he couldn’t stand being this weak. It made him feel like he was an invalid, and if there was one thing he hated more than bullies, it was feeling like an invalid.

It took a few minutes for him to feel strong enough to get back to his feet, but once he did, Ash helped him stand and led him back to his bed. He got him settled on his right side, just like he was when he found him, gently brushing his hair back as he sat down beside him again. He still wished it was Jake taking care of him right now, that it was his lover stroking his hair back so lovingly, but he knew it couldn’t be. There was too much work left to be done on their new album for more than one of them not to be working on it for any reason besides illness or raising children. And even then, Jinxx had Sammi to take care of Logan, and Shelby was babysitting Rori more often than not these days, which left Andy and Ash both free to work on the album.

They were both silent for a while as his stomach finally calmed down, just like it had around this time every day for the past few days. Now that he was feeling better, he opened his own chocolate-brown eyes and looked up at the ones gazing down at him, filled with worry and brotherly love. CC smiled at his friend weakly to let him know that he’d be okay, hoping to be able to ask him his opinion on his suspicion soon. He really needed to get this off his chest to someone who would understand; otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked him to come over. Now that he was feeling better, he knew it was now or never.

“Feeling better now, Ceece?” Ash asked, his tone gentle and caring.

“A little. I have something that I wanna ask you, though,” he answered, gulping nervously.

“Sure, shoot,” the bassist said, waiting patiently.

“How did you feel when you first got pregnant with Rori?” he asked, trying not to let his anxiety upset his stomach again.

“I woke up sick every morning for, like, two weeks straight before I went to Dr. Morgan,” he answered. “I felt so weak I usually didn’t wanna get out of bed, and I could barely keep anything down. Trust me, Andy tried every trick in the book.”

“Did you ever feel like you were gonna drop dead from exhaustion around two in the afternoon, even if you slept perfectly fine the night before?” CC asked curiously.

“Dude, there wasn’t a single night I slept ‘perfectly fine’ while I was pregnant with her,” he laughed. “But yeah, I’d usually want a nap around that time of day. Why?”

“Because I’m starting to think maybe I haven’t got the flu,” he answered.

“Mmm… All right, when did you have your last cycle?” Ash asked, knowing what his suspicions were now.

“Around January twenty-third…I think,” he told him, struggling to remember. “We’ve been so busy with various things and working on the album that I can’t remember exactly.”

“All right. You want me to take you to the OB/GYN I found that’s pretty open-minded?” he asked.

“That probably couldn’t hurt anything,” he agreed. “I mean, better to find out now than later. I’d much rather know for sure than to just think I’m sick, then have a frickin’ kid on the road.”

“I don’t blame you, Ceece,” his friend chuckled, getting up. “I’ll grab your shoes and whatnot. You stay there till we get you ready to go.”

CC nodded weakly, not really wanting to move any more than he absolutely had to since he never knew what would set his stomach off. He was glad that Ash was such an open-minded and understanding individual, and that he could understand exactly where he was coming from. He was the only other person he knew that had his “gift”, and it just made sense to go to him for help before any of the other guys.

His friend brought over a pair of laceless Sketchers, something he rarely wore since he preferred boots and Converse, and he knew why. If he had to take his shoes off at the doctor’s office, these would be the quickest and easiest to get off, with or without help from someone else. He slowly sat up, grabbing his friend’s arm for balance as he slipped the shoes on his feet since he felt light-headed, then took his keys and wallet, which he put in his pocket with his phone. Ash helped him downstairs, where he sat him down on the couch while he got his daughter and let Becki know they were going out to run an errand real quick.

The poor nurse had no idea about CC’s “gift”, and he didn’t want to tell her without proof that he was indeed suffering from something other than the flu. She told him she’d stay here with Casey, whether it was part of her duty as her nurse or not, and told them to be careful. Ash nodded to her and got Rori settled in her car seat, her diaper bag in the floorboard under her feet, then went back into the house for his friend. He was grateful for his help, even though it made him feel more and more like an invalid, but at least he was smart enough to know when to accept help from others at all. He smiled weakly at him once again as he got settled in the front seat of the ’68 Shelby Mustang and put his seat belt on.

On the ride to the OB/GYN’s office, his friend warned him that they’d probably get some really strange looks, and not just from the other patients. The staff already knew he was in a relationship with Andy, so unless they’d secretly decided to have an open relationship, they might get funny looks from him walking in with his daughter and another man. Considering all the funny looks pretty much all of them got for one thing or another, he wasn’t bothered by this information in the least and merely nodded his head to show he heard him.

“Hey, Ashley,” the receptionist said when they walked in. “What can I help you with?”

“My friend here needs to see Dr. Hill, if she’s available,” he answered, holding his daughter on one hip while using the other arm to keep him upright.

“What’s her name?” she asked, beginning to set up a new patient file.

“Christian Mora,” Ash told her, keeping his tone low.

“Oh…another one like you, huh?” she asked softly, keeping her tone low, as well, now that enlightenment had dawned.

“Mmm hmm, hence why I specifically asked for Dr. Hill.”

“All right, Christian, if you’ll have a seat in the waiting room and fill out this paperwork, I’ll see if Dr. Hill is busy at the moment.”

“Thanks, Lily,” his friend said, steering him over to the waiting area, the clipboard she handed him in his hand.

They sat down in the uncomfortable looking chairs, which were surprisingly comfortable, and he started filling out the paperwork he’d been handed. He hated doing things like this, but this could affect not only his health, but the very way his life was lived. And not only could it affect the way his life went, but it could affect Jake’s, too, although no one knew that but him.

It wasn’t long before Ash nudged his arm, as he’d almost fallen asleep in the waiting area, and nodded toward a nurse, who was smiling at them. He stood up and grabbed Rori and her diaper bag, then extended his hand to him and helped him to his feet. CC immediately wrapped his arm around his friend’s shoulders, the man’s free arm wrapping itself around his waist for support, and let him lead him back to where the nurse stood. She led them into the back of the building and into an exam room, where she had him step on a scale after taking the paperwork he’d filled out.

“All right, Mr. Mora,” the nurse, Marina, said. “C’mon over here and hop up on the table, and we’ll get your blood pressure and temperature real quick.”

He nodded as he did what he was told.

“So what happened to you and Andy?” she asked, her attention on Ash as she wrapped the cuff around his arm.

“Oh, we’re still together, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Ash chuckled, Rori sitting in the spare chair while he stood by his friend’s side. “CC is the drummer of the band we’ve started, as well as one of our high school friends. We band together and help each other out as much as we can, and I was the only one he really felt like he could come to.”

“So he’s got the same ‘gift’ as you do?” she asked, pulling her stethoscope away from her neck.

“Mmm hmm. I’m the only one out of our close circle that would even remotely understand, much less know how to help him out,” he answered.

They fell silent for a moment as she got his blood pressure, which turned out to be one-thirty over eighty-five.

“Well, that’s not too bad,” she said, taking the cuff off his arm. “You nervous?”

“Yeah, a little,” CC answered.

“Ah, that explains it. Anxiety can elevate a person’s blood pressure a bit, but that’s still not too bad, all things considered,” Marina told him. “Open your mouth and lift your tongue for me.”

He stayed silent as he did what he was told, closing his lips around the probe she put in his mouth to hold it until the digital thermometer beeped.

“No fever, which is good,” she said, ejecting the protective cover into the trash.

“See? I told ya I didn’t feel like I’d been running a fever lately,” he said, looking at his friend.

“I never said I didn’t believe ya, Ceece,” Ash chuckled. “Besides, I’ve been through this; I know how it feels.”

“So why on Earth do you keep calling him CC?” the nurse asked curiously. “I thought his name was Christian Mora.”

“It is, but I started getting called ‘the coma causer’ my freshman year of high school after I put a kid who’d been tormenting me into one,” CC answered. “From there, I just started calling myself Christian Coma, and later CC when my baby sister couldn’t pronounce my nickname right.”

“So you had a valid reason for putting someone in a coma?” she asked.

“Yeah. He’d picked on me every day throughout middle school, and eventually decided to take a swing at me,” he answered, recalling that day as if it were yesterday. “It wasn’t his smartest move, which he learned the hard way.”

“All right. So your date of birth is April twenty-first, 1988, correct?” She was going over the paperwork he’d filled out and putting everything into the system.

“That’s right. And yes, my middle name is Rafael,” he told her.

After putting his information into the computerized record that would be kept on file by the office at all times, Marina left the room, saying that Dr. Hill would be in shortly. He was stuck sitting there on the exam table twiddling his thumbs, his head hung as if he awaited a prostate exam. Considering that he’d had to go through much worse than that since his teens, he knew that a prostate exam would be nothing in comparison to this, especially if his suspicions turned out to be right.

Ash stood by his side, Rori having somehow curled up on the chair beside them and fallen asleep, which made the two of them smile. He knew he’d probably woken them up from their nap when he’d texted him earlier, so it didn’t surprise them that the toddler was choosing to finish her nap any way she possibly could. Now the countdown for the doctor to show up was on, and he hoped it wouldn’t be long.

Notes