The Preacher's Daughter

CC's POV
I was just picking up Jinxx as Jake's phone pings, alerting him to a new message. He checks it, to be sure it's not an emergency, then sighs deeply.

"What is it?" Jinxx inquires from the backseat.

"It's Andy. He says they'll be a little late. Guess you're sister had a rough night and slept through her alarm this morning," Jake explains, typing a response to Andy.

"Wait, my sister?" I ask, dumbfounded by his explanation, "That's odd...She's normally a really light sleeper and early riser. I mean, this girls been known to wake up at the sound of a car door outside and I've never known her to sleep any later than 9:30."

"Might be something to ask her about when we get to the bus," Jake replies, concern in his tone.

"Yeah. Maybe," I murmur, trying to figure out what could have kept her awake last night.

After getting to the arena and parking out back, next to the bus, we unload my car, moving into our temporary home for the next few months. Once I get my bunk set up and my bags where they belong, I sit on the couch and wait. Ten minutes pass, before Ash, Andy and my sister enter the bus.

I follow Grace back to the bunks to find she's picked the one below me and next to Ash. Leaning against the door frame, I ask, "Grace, you okay?"

She pauses to look up at me with a perplexed frown and answers, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know," I murmur with a shrug, "I heard you had a rough night, last night. Was just wondering why."

I watch her carefully as she freezes for a moment, then quickly replies with a fake smile, "Oh, that. That was nothing. I was just super excited about today and it made it really hard to fall asleep."

She's lying...I sigh deeply, knowing full well there's more to it, but don't press her. She'll tell me when she's ready. She always does.

"Alright, well, grab your purse. It's time for your big bro to show you how a rockstar really lives," I tell her, lifting her duffle bag into her bunk and setting it down. I then notice her boots and ask, "Umm...are you going to be okay in those?"

She frowns again, following my gaze to her shoes and laughs, saying, "I wore these boots to UPROAR fest. I should be just fine here."

"Alright," I reply, unsure of what else to say. She's a grown woman who can make her own choices, but I'm not babying her when she starts bitching about her feet hurting. That's on her.

"Chris, really. I'll be fine," She presses, smirking up at me and patting my cheek.

"If you say so," I tell her, smirking back at her and playfully swatting her hand away, before pulling her out of the bus and checking the time. We have 15 minutes before we have out first interview for the day. This one was with a magazine who wanted to feature us for our ink.

Speaking of ink...As I'm walking Grace through the back doors of the arena, I notice a small tattoo running along the webbing of her thumb and forefinger in bronze ink, with black and white highlights. Upon closer inspection, I see it's two words in a beautiful, delicate font. It reads "Wake Up" and is followed by a bronze infinity symbol overlapping a black cross, running ever so slightly down the side of her forefinger.

"When did you get that?" I inquire, gesturing to the small tattoo.

"Oh, a couple days after you helped me move out of Dad's place. One of Tay's friends is an apprentice at a local tattoo parlor and offered to do it for free, if I'd let him take a picture of it and use it in his portfolio," She explains, looking down at her new tattoo, "I knew I wanted a tattoo at some point, but didn't want anything too big for my first tattoo. Plus that songs one of my favorites off the new album, so I felt it was fitting."

"Awesome," I reply, smiling down at her. It's cool to know I have a sis who truly loves and supports my bands music.

When we get to the dressing room, I peek inside, making sure everyone's decent before opening the door to let Grace in. I follow after her as the guys greet her and I take my seat next to Ash.

"Come over here, Grace," he tells her, patting his leg. She gives me a look, asking for permission, to which I smile and nod. I know Ash isn't going to hurt her. Hell, if anything, he's really sweet to her. Makes me wonder what he's thinking.

I watch them from the corner of my eye, as I finish getting ready for our interview. She sits on his lap as he wanted her to, blushing as deep red. He pulls a small black makeup bag off the vanity table in front of him that has a rhinestone star on it and passes it to her without a word.

She gives him a quizzical look, before opening the bag and I watch her eyes light up at its contents. He pulls out a pot of black war paint, followed by a thin angled brush and tells her to close her eyes.

I watch as he draws a thick black liner over her lashline, winging it out at the end, then using feather-like strokes adds a few extra spikes on the end. He then tells her to open her eyes and look up, which she does automatically, without question. She's very calm as he draws a thin line just along the waterline, then adds more product to the brush. He carefully places his hand on her chin, but this seems to be too much for her.

Her pupils dilate in fear, as her smile fades and she pushes away from him, falling to the floor, flinching back and cowering under the vanity table. She curls her knees to her chest, her eyes wide, though distant as she stares off at nothing. Her hands clench her shoulders, creating a protective cocoon around her neck and I jump in front of her, but don't dare touch her. Something's wrong.

"Grace," I whisper, taking in the site of my terrified sister, "Graceland, talk to me. What happened?"

"Grace, I'm so sorry," Ashley softly adds, kneeling beside me.

She gives no indication she's heard us, or even sees us for that matter. What the hell is happening to her?

I carefully touch her knee, gauging her reaction, and watch her eyes slowly change back to normal. She looks around herself in a confused manner and my heart sinks as I realize what just happened...She had a flashback...to what...I don't know.

"Graceland?" I whisper again and this time she looks up at me. I let her register where she is and who I am before slowly continuing with, "Grace, what's just happened?"

"I...I..." She shakes her head, tears welling up in her eyes, so I just pull her into my arms and tell her it's okay. I understand what happened now and I want to see if maybe we can help her through this...at least until we get home.

"Is she okay?" Jinxx softly asks from behind me.

"I think so. I...I think she had a flashback," I explain, and as if to confirm my fears, she nods into my chest. I look back to her and ask, "Has this happened before?"

"Not like this. It's never been this bad before," She murmurs, buring her face deeper into my vest.

I close my eyes, focusing on my breathing, so not to let my anger get the better of me. When I'm calm enough, Ashley holds open his arms, and I gently transfer Grace to him. She clings to him tightly and I watch him shift his hold on her enough that he can pick her up and sit with her in his lap again, this time on the floor.

He rocks her gently, then tells me, "I got her. You finish getting ready."

I nod, standing up and walking back to my chair, watching them closely as I continue to get ready. I see Ashley kiss her hair, whispering something to her, and slowly I see the tension leave her body.

She looks up at him, a small smile on her lips now, and he grins happily down at her. He whispers something else to her and she nods, her smile growing wider, then they stand up and he sits back in his chair, patting his knee again. She takes a seat again as he goes to wash the streaked makeup from her cheeks.

as he approaches her cheekbones, she stops him and says, "Leave them. This is my war paint from now on."

He nods, removing the makeup wipe from her face, then tells her, "I'm not done yet. Would it be alright if I added something?"

She nods but whispers, "Just...don't touch my neck please."

"I won't. I'm so sorry about that," he replies, his smile faltering before she smirks and kisses his cheek, making them both blush.

I chuckle at the sight, shaking my head. My best friend and my little sister, huh? That'll take some getting used to.

He carefully adds some line work to her right cheekbone, before telling her to check it out. She looks in the mirror, then makes a face as if she's not sure about it. Her eyes light up as she dives for her bag and grabs a tube of lipstick from it.

Returning to the mirror, she applies the royal blue lipstick and blots her lips together, before smiling at her reflection and turning back to ask Ash what he thought.

"Perfect," he tells her, standing up and pulling her into his arms again. He kisses her hair and whispers, "Just like you."

Notes