Chapter 100

God, he thought to himself, his bed was so comfortable. For it being an object, he had missed it way too much but being able to lay down in it right now was wonderful. They'd just gotten home from the airport and the bed was the first thing he had to try out again to be welcomed home. He'd pick Ava up in a little while.

The last show had been amazing, most of them were but being the end of a leg or the beginning was always a time to impress the audience. He could easily imagine standing on that stage again, a guitar over his shoulder as he started off one of their songs. The opening lyrics were all his, not until the chorus did Jon join in with him, he gladly let him take the spotlight he wanted back. For now anyway, before he knew it he was lost in his guitar solo.

Whenever he played that guitar he felt good, everything became better once he picked up his instrument and was able to turn off his mind and simply play what he was feeling. Being lost like that was what he loved so much. He could feel his own passion as he moved on to the next song.

Being able to play his guitar on stage in front of everyone, sharing the love he had for the music he had created was a feeling that he could closely compare to sex. He did both with passion. Not the exact same kind of feeling but if a foodgasm was now a thing, then a musicgasm has been a thing for him for many years because that was exactly what he felt when he got to perform.

An hour into the show, he shared some banter with Jon before trading his mike stand for the famous white one. As he was more occupied with singing than getting lost in the moment, he relied more on Bobby to keep up with guitar. For now anyway, he picked up whenever he heard the need to do so.

During the solo, he felt his shoulder being shaken, his play being interrupted. "What?" He asked confused when he opened his eyes to reveal his bedroom to him.
"You fell asleep." Sarah said gently, as she sat down next to him.
He rubbed his eyes, getting rid of the sleepiness he felt before he sat up. "Guess I was tired."
"I'm sorry." Sarah apologized. "I'd let you nap but you were going to pick Ava and Noah up from school. If you hadn't insisted, she would have driven them home."
"I know." He stretched a little, remembering how he had convinced her to get a ride to school so he could have the honors of picking her up like he used to do. "Are you staying here with Daniel?"
"He thought he'd do the same as his daddy and fell asleep so I just took him to bed, that's when I came in here."
"He's a smart boy." Richie got up from the bed, which was safer than staying in it if he was feeling sleepy. "I might get a coffee." He considered, knowing Ava would love it if he picked her up something as well.

Changing back to a pace at home was strange, around dinner time he started to feel antsy, as if he needed to do something but other than cleaning up after dinner, there wasn't anything he needed to do tonight. After weeks of touring, the tour schedule became his regular pace and changing back to something more relaxed felt strange to him.

After dinner, he took Daniel to the living room to play with him before bed and to tire him out, maybe it would still work for himself as well. He doubted it. On tour he had been able to spend his daytime with Daniel but usually on the way back to the hotel Daniel would have fallen asleep in the car. It was nice to sit on the floor with him and drive around cars or building a block tower, just so the little boy could knock it down. While on the road, he didn't have as many toys, here he had a whole bunch to keep him busy.

When his son became fussy, he picked him up and carried him to the couch to sit down with him, stroking his back to calm him down. It always worked and it didn't take Daniel long to go to sleep.

"Do you want to take him to bed?" Sarah asked once their TV show ended, she was ready for bed herself.
"Yeah." Richie looked up at her. "Are you tired too sweetheart?"
She nodded. "I think I'll head to bed as well." She admitted.
"Do you want me to come with you or do you mind if I stay up a little longer?" He asked, it was only 10, there was no way he'd be able to sleep right now.
"You can stay up." Sarah said as she reached to pick up Daniel. "I won't mind."
"Okay." He let go of his son but reached in to capture Sarah's lips in a kiss before he let her go upstairs.

He watched her walk out of the living room and up the stairs. Figuring he was alone for the rest of the night, he got up and headed to the kitchen. From the cabinet he grabbed a bowl, a spoon from the drawer, then headed to the freezer. He had to move some things around but found a box of ice cream. Back in the living room, he changed the TV channel and found a late night show to watch.

Sarah reached out on the bed as she woke up but came up empty handed. The warmth she expected to find next to her wasn't there. She turned around and opened her eyes to read the time on her alarm clock.

Surely he would have gotten tired by now.

Slowly, she pulled herself out of bed and out of their bedroom. Once she was heading down the stairs, she could hear the TV but instead of a show he would be watching, she recognized it as one of those infomercials that played during the night time.

She walked into the living room to find her husband asleep on the couch, ignoring the bowl and the pack of cookies on the coffee table, she picked up the TV remote and turned the TV off. Then, she sat down next to his sleeping figure on the couch and stroked his arm to gently try and wake him. She chuckled when his head straightened up as he woke up in surprise.

"Want to go to bed?" She whispered.

The next morning Richie tried his best to wake up early but after Daniel had woken up, he made the mistake of laying back down in bed with him which lead to him sleeping later than he had intended. Once he got downstairs to the living room, Sarah was alone with Daniel playing on the floor.

"Did they go to school already?" He asked a little disappointed in himself, already knowing the answer.
"Ava and I agreed we should let you sleep if you're tired." Sarah said, watching him as he sat down on the couch instead of with her. "She doesn't have cheer today so she'll be home earlier."
Richie nodded, then yawned. "Sounds good. What do we do today?" He reached for the TV remote to turn on the TV.
"Play with Daniel mostly. I just kept him busy while you were away. We play, watch some TV, nap, wait for Noah to come home."

The first day of being home always felt a little strange. After having a long time with a specific routine, it was strange to adjust to one where he got to occupy himself all day. There was no need to go to the gym, be ready by 3.30pm, soundcheck, dinner and show. All he had to do now was wake up in the morning and then figure out what he wanted to do all day. No set schedule that was going to tell him. Tomorrow he would try harder to get up earlier, even if Ava wanted to drive to school he'd at least get up to make them breakfast. Which would mean waking up before 10am.

When they finished lunch, he picked Daniel up out of his high chair and carried him to the living room. This was something he would gladly make a routine of. He grabbed the TV remote again to find an afternoon show to watch, as he sat down in his chair and reclined it, making sure Daniel was comfortable on him for the next two hours or so. He situated him with his head on his shoulder so he would still be able to watch TV and keep himself occupied as he cuddled his son to sleep. Not much later Sarah sat down next to him on the couch.

"What do you do while he naps?" Richie asked, looking over at her.
Sarah shrugged. "Watch TV or study, depends on the day."
"You're going to be studying forever aren't you?" He asked curiously.
Sarah smiled at that, he was probably right. "I like learning new things and it's a very useful subject. It also keeps me busy and gives me something of a social life."
He looked over at her in question. She was studying at home, online courses. "How so?"
"There's chatrooms and forums on the online courses in case anyone needs helps with any kind of subject so I'm able to connect with other people as well."
"I didn't know that."
"I also take Daniel out to playgroups." Sarah pointed out. "He needs it too."
He looked down at his son, he knew that was true. "He needs some friends and people to talk to."
That make Sarah look up as well. "People to talk to?"
"Well yeah, he'll catch on eventually. He's not going to be quiet forever." He pointed out, although Daniel hadn't said a word so far.
Sarah smiled at that thought. Both of them were looking forward to hearing that first word come out of him.
"What about your friends?" Richie asked, he knew there weren't many but Sarah had made a few friends at the job she held for a couple months.
Sarah frowned.

After leaving her job at the hospital she hadn't seen much of anyone until Daniel was born and then again when he was in the hospital, which was now six months ago. Occasionally she still texted them but without having work to relate over, she felt like she had grown apart from most of them. It wasn't easy to maintain a friendship when you had a child needing your almost constant attention.

"You could meet up with them, you know?" Richie told her, sounding hopeful. "I can watch Daniel if you ever want to go hang out with someone like..." He paused, thinking fast. "That girl Taylor. She was nice and she liked Daniel too."
"Maybe I will."

A few minutes later he felt Daniel relax more into his arms, he looked down to see his closed eyes as he slept comfortably. This was exactly what he needed.