Don't You Dare
Chapter Thirty-Six
Three years later.
The bus barreled down the road, swaying with the curves of the road. The sky was threatening to fall with the rain that was looming in the clouds above them.
Brian plopped down on one of the couches in the quiet living area of the bus. The Avenged Sevenfold tour bus had changed in many ways over the last few years. It was quieter, cleaner, contained way less alcohol and way fewer drugs, and not a single random groupie.
Subconsciously, Brian clutched his phone tight, pressing the home button to light up the screen so he could check for notifications. There were none. He exhaled. But he wasn’t sure if it was with relief or anxiety.
Johnny sat on the couch across from Brian with his phone held up to his ear. “Hey babe,” he greeted the person on the phone, who Brian assumed was Johnny’s fiancee. Yeah, the idiot did actually manage to trick someone into falling in love with his short ass.
“We’re on our way home,” Johnny said into the phone with a smile on his face.
Brian pressed his lips together and rolled his eyes then turned the other way. On the other end of the couch from him, Val and Matt were snuggled up together. Valary’s last tour as the band’s tour manager had just come to an end. Four months pregnant with their first son, she decided to finally pass the band-managing torch onto someone from the record label. It was bittersweet for everyone.
“I know,” Johnny cooed into the phone. “I can’t wait to get home to you.”
Yearning grew in Brian’s chest. He understood Johnny’s sentiment – it had been a long tour and he was ready to get home – but he knew he’d be walking into an empty house when he got home, and it was killing him. He was dreading it.
Conflicted and full of emotions, Brian frowned. Then he looked down and checked his phone. Again. For the second time in sixty seconds.
The screen was blank. Nothing. No notifications. His knee bounced as he sighed.
“I know you’re anxious, but we’ll be home soon, dude,” Zacky reminded him sympathetically, smacking him lovingly on the shoulder as he walked by.
Brian nodded with a slight frown.
It was pouring when Brian finally walked through his front door that night. The house was dark and still. He dropped his bag by the threshold and waited for his dog to come running down the stairs.
But he didn’t.
“Boomer!” Brian called.
Still nothing.
“Son of a bitch,” Brian muttered to himself.
Boomer was probably hiding under the bed. Which is what he did when he was guilty. Which meant there was a mess somewhere in the house that Brian would eventually find and have to clean up.
As he kicked off his shoes and stalked upstairs, he prayed that the dog didn’t give the housekeepers too much trouble while he was gone. Because they were hired as housekeepers, but the poor older ladies had to double as dog-sitters when it was tour season. And Boomer was a force to be reckoned with - not always in a good way.
When he opened the bedroom door, he didn’t see Boomer. But what he saw instead made his heart do little leaps in his chest.
“Aubrey?” He asked with an abundance of excitement at the sight of his wife standing at the foot of their bed folding laundry.
She spun around, pulling her headphones out of her ears, and her nine-month pregnant belly came into full view.
“Oh, dang it,” she griped. “I didn’t hear you come in. I didn’t think you’d be home for at least another hour!”
“Baby,” he whispered with a hazy, smitten smile. He hadn’t seen his wife in 2 months and her belly had grown so much. And her boobs. God damn, her boobs had grown too. “What’re you doing home? I thought I was driving up to Fresno to get you tomorrow?”
“I had Andrew drive me down this afternoon,” she answered with a smile. “I hated the thought of you coming home to an empty house and wanted to surprise you.”
He sighed with relief and contentment as he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her as best as he could. She hadn’t been able to come on the last leg of the tour with them, doctor’s orders, so she stayed up in Fresno with her brother, just in case she went into early labor.
Except her due date had passed three days ago and there were no contractions in sight. Regardless, Brian had been a walking ball of anxiety the last three weeks, anticipating a baby call at any minute. He hated being stuck on tour, pushing it so close to her due date, but Aubrey insisted he finish out the tour, promising to keep their little one cooking until he got home.
“How’re you feeling?” He asked just before he pressed his lips to hers.
“Mmm,” she hummed against his mouth, pulling away with a smack. “Much better now.”
“No pains?” He asked.
She shook her head. “My back’s been hurting at night but that’s nothing new.”
“Baby still moving?” He asked.
This time, Aubrey nodded. “Kicking all god damn day and night.”
Brian smirked. “We’re screwed, aren’t we?”
She laughed. “He or she is going to keep us on our toes.”
“She,” Brian insisted.
Aubrey rolled her eyes. “How do you think he’s going to feel when he finds out that you were hoping for a girl the whole time?”
Brian bent down next to her belly and whispered, “It won’t matter because you’re a girl, right? My little girl.”
“He just kicked,” Aubrey laughed, rubbing the insulted spot of her belly, where the baby’s foot internally landed. “You offended him.”
Brian chuckled and placed a soft kiss on the side of her belly then stood up.
“Where’s Boomer?” He wondered.
At the sound of his name, the big Great Dane came crawling out from under the bed, looking guiltier than ever.
“I don’t understand how he fits under there,” Brian mumbled to himself. “Why’s he hiding?”
“The trash can in the kitchen was knocked over when I got home,” Aubrey said. “I tried to clean it up but…” and then she gestured to her belly. “Can’t bend over much these days.”
Brian laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m on it.”
He gave her another soft kiss then left the room, jogging down the stairs and into the kitchen to examine the mess. Which consisted of trash debris scattered throughout the entire gigantic kitchen. With a groan, Brian grabbed the broom to hopefully sweep most of the mess into one area before picking it up.
“Boomer, you dick,” he grumbled to the dog, even though he was still cowering under the bed upstairs, protected by his favorite human.
Brian wanted a German Shepard. A loyal, obedient German Shepard. But Aubrey picked the goofy, floppy Great Dane and “compromised” by letting Brian name him.
She wore the pants. She has since day one. And it didn’t bother him one bit.
“Brian?!” Aubrey shouted from upstairs.
Her tone, a mixture of panic and confusion, had Brian frozen in place instantly.
“What’s wrong?!” He called back.
When she didn’t respond, Brian dropped the broom and hurried back upstairs.
Aubrey was standing in the same exact spot, except she was looking down at her crotch. Well, trying to.
“Did I pee myself?” She asked. “Or did my water break?”
Brian’s eyes scanned her body to notice that there was a damp spot on her pants between her thighs.
“Either that or you’re just really excited I’m home,” Brian teased with a wink, wondering if she really did pee herself with how often she has to relieve her bladder lately.
“Are you kid-“
Before she could finish her sentence, the spot between her thighs got larger. Brian could hear liquid trickling down her leg.
“Tell me you just peed yourself some more, AC,” Brian whispered.
She shook her head with wide eyes.
He swallowed hard. “Okay,” he drawled with a nod, reigning in his emotions and remembering that he needed to be Aubrey’s rock through this, just like she had been for him so many times. “Okay. This is great. Let’s go have a baby.”
~
The room was quiet for the first time in hours. Aubrey watched as Brian sat in the chair beside her hospital bed, shirtless, holding their baby against his bare tattooed chest. He was looking down at the tiny human in adoration and disbelief.
She wished there was a way to bottle up a moment and hold onto it forever, because she never wanted to forget that sight or how she felt watching her husband hold their tiny newborn baby.
“You look so hot right now,” Aubrey said quietly.
Brian chuckled as he looked over at her and smiled. “Is ‘Dad’ a good look for me?”
“Oh yeah, I’m ready for you to knock me up all over again,” she confirmed.
He smirked then looked back at the little baby in his arms. “I can’t believe we have a baby.”
“A son,” Aubrey corrected.
“A son,” Brian confirmed with a proud smile.
As soon as she heard the doctor’s say, ‘It’s a boy!’ her eyes snapped to Brian to gauge his reaction. She wasn’t sure if he’d laugh over losing the ‘gender war,’ be mad or upset that their baby wasn’t a girl, or be shocked since he was so confident in his guess of the baby’s gender.
But the look on his face was an absolute work of art. There was so much pride, so much adoration, and so much love in his tear-filled eyes.
“A boy,” he had whispered, echoing the doctor’s words.
That memory will stay ingrained in her mind for the rest of her life.
When Brian showed up on her brother’s doorstep after Jimmy’s funeral, she didn’t know how to react. She had just landed her big promotion, and although she missed him dearly, she had been trying to learn how to move forward. She was afraid of giving in for the wrong reasons and didn’t want to end up in the same cycle of heartbreak then end up without a job or home, in an unfamiliar city, in an unfamiliar state.
However, Brian had been so desperate in his plea that Aubrey knew she only had two choices: stay in California or go back to Phoenix forever. It was his final attempt, his final plea. Now or never.
So, of course, she stayed.
Jimmy’s death had put things into perspective in a way that she never would’ve imagined. She couldn’t lose Brian again. She was offered a chance to make everything right, to make up for her mistakes. A final chance. A chance to show him that he does matter to her. She was stupid and didn’t make him her priority at first, but she would never make that mistake again. She would make sure that she never made him feel anything less than unconditionally loved ever again.
And she was so thankful that she had finally come to her senses. Even if it took something tragic to get her there.
A knock on the door snapped Aubrey out of her thoughts.
“Come in!” She called.
The door carefully opened to reveal five curious, excited faces.
Val, Matt, Zack, Johnny, and Johnny’s fiancée, Lacey.
“Can we come in?” Valary asked in a whisper.
“Come on in,” Brian answered, standing up with the baby.
“Oh my god, look how little,” Lacey cooed quietly.
“Why are we whispering?” Zacky asked, still whispering.
“Because you have to be quiet around babies, numb nuts,” Johnny informed.
“Hey, watch your language around my kid,” Brian scolded.
“Your kid,” Valary clutched her chest in worship of his words.
“Dude, wait, why is your shirt off?” Johnny questioned Brian.
“Shut up,” Lacey admonished as she smacked Johnny’s arm.
“Okay, okay, tell us!” Valary interrupted. “Tell us everything about our first Avenged Sevenfold baby!”
Aubrey smiled and watched as Brian began to swaddle the baby, a move he practiced so many times over the last few months.
“It’s a boy,” Aubrey proudly beamed.
Their friends erupted into a fit of exclamations, squeals, and cheers.
“Seven pounds, two ounces, twenty inches long,” Aubrey continued, watching as Brian put on his shirt then picked up the baby cocoon.
Valary sighed dreamily. “He’s perfect.”
“What’s his name?” Matt asked.
Brian held the baby so that his friends could see his angelic face then announced his name:
“Sullivan Ford Haner.”
The bus barreled down the road, swaying with the curves of the road. The sky was threatening to fall with the rain that was looming in the clouds above them.
Brian plopped down on one of the couches in the quiet living area of the bus. The Avenged Sevenfold tour bus had changed in many ways over the last few years. It was quieter, cleaner, contained way less alcohol and way fewer drugs, and not a single random groupie.
Subconsciously, Brian clutched his phone tight, pressing the home button to light up the screen so he could check for notifications. There were none. He exhaled. But he wasn’t sure if it was with relief or anxiety.
Johnny sat on the couch across from Brian with his phone held up to his ear. “Hey babe,” he greeted the person on the phone, who Brian assumed was Johnny’s fiancee. Yeah, the idiot did actually manage to trick someone into falling in love with his short ass.
“We’re on our way home,” Johnny said into the phone with a smile on his face.
Brian pressed his lips together and rolled his eyes then turned the other way. On the other end of the couch from him, Val and Matt were snuggled up together. Valary’s last tour as the band’s tour manager had just come to an end. Four months pregnant with their first son, she decided to finally pass the band-managing torch onto someone from the record label. It was bittersweet for everyone.
“I know,” Johnny cooed into the phone. “I can’t wait to get home to you.”
Yearning grew in Brian’s chest. He understood Johnny’s sentiment – it had been a long tour and he was ready to get home – but he knew he’d be walking into an empty house when he got home, and it was killing him. He was dreading it.
Conflicted and full of emotions, Brian frowned. Then he looked down and checked his phone. Again. For the second time in sixty seconds.
The screen was blank. Nothing. No notifications. His knee bounced as he sighed.
“I know you’re anxious, but we’ll be home soon, dude,” Zacky reminded him sympathetically, smacking him lovingly on the shoulder as he walked by.
Brian nodded with a slight frown.
It was pouring when Brian finally walked through his front door that night. The house was dark and still. He dropped his bag by the threshold and waited for his dog to come running down the stairs.
But he didn’t.
“Boomer!” Brian called.
Still nothing.
“Son of a bitch,” Brian muttered to himself.
Boomer was probably hiding under the bed. Which is what he did when he was guilty. Which meant there was a mess somewhere in the house that Brian would eventually find and have to clean up.
As he kicked off his shoes and stalked upstairs, he prayed that the dog didn’t give the housekeepers too much trouble while he was gone. Because they were hired as housekeepers, but the poor older ladies had to double as dog-sitters when it was tour season. And Boomer was a force to be reckoned with - not always in a good way.
When he opened the bedroom door, he didn’t see Boomer. But what he saw instead made his heart do little leaps in his chest.
“Aubrey?” He asked with an abundance of excitement at the sight of his wife standing at the foot of their bed folding laundry.
She spun around, pulling her headphones out of her ears, and her nine-month pregnant belly came into full view.
“Oh, dang it,” she griped. “I didn’t hear you come in. I didn’t think you’d be home for at least another hour!”
“Baby,” he whispered with a hazy, smitten smile. He hadn’t seen his wife in 2 months and her belly had grown so much. And her boobs. God damn, her boobs had grown too. “What’re you doing home? I thought I was driving up to Fresno to get you tomorrow?”
“I had Andrew drive me down this afternoon,” she answered with a smile. “I hated the thought of you coming home to an empty house and wanted to surprise you.”
He sighed with relief and contentment as he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her as best as he could. She hadn’t been able to come on the last leg of the tour with them, doctor’s orders, so she stayed up in Fresno with her brother, just in case she went into early labor.
Except her due date had passed three days ago and there were no contractions in sight. Regardless, Brian had been a walking ball of anxiety the last three weeks, anticipating a baby call at any minute. He hated being stuck on tour, pushing it so close to her due date, but Aubrey insisted he finish out the tour, promising to keep their little one cooking until he got home.
“How’re you feeling?” He asked just before he pressed his lips to hers.
“Mmm,” she hummed against his mouth, pulling away with a smack. “Much better now.”
“No pains?” He asked.
She shook her head. “My back’s been hurting at night but that’s nothing new.”
“Baby still moving?” He asked.
This time, Aubrey nodded. “Kicking all god damn day and night.”
Brian smirked. “We’re screwed, aren’t we?”
She laughed. “He or she is going to keep us on our toes.”
“She,” Brian insisted.
Aubrey rolled her eyes. “How do you think he’s going to feel when he finds out that you were hoping for a girl the whole time?”
Brian bent down next to her belly and whispered, “It won’t matter because you’re a girl, right? My little girl.”
“He just kicked,” Aubrey laughed, rubbing the insulted spot of her belly, where the baby’s foot internally landed. “You offended him.”
Brian chuckled and placed a soft kiss on the side of her belly then stood up.
“Where’s Boomer?” He wondered.
At the sound of his name, the big Great Dane came crawling out from under the bed, looking guiltier than ever.
“I don’t understand how he fits under there,” Brian mumbled to himself. “Why’s he hiding?”
“The trash can in the kitchen was knocked over when I got home,” Aubrey said. “I tried to clean it up but…” and then she gestured to her belly. “Can’t bend over much these days.”
Brian laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m on it.”
He gave her another soft kiss then left the room, jogging down the stairs and into the kitchen to examine the mess. Which consisted of trash debris scattered throughout the entire gigantic kitchen. With a groan, Brian grabbed the broom to hopefully sweep most of the mess into one area before picking it up.
“Boomer, you dick,” he grumbled to the dog, even though he was still cowering under the bed upstairs, protected by his favorite human.
Brian wanted a German Shepard. A loyal, obedient German Shepard. But Aubrey picked the goofy, floppy Great Dane and “compromised” by letting Brian name him.
She wore the pants. She has since day one. And it didn’t bother him one bit.
“Brian?!” Aubrey shouted from upstairs.
Her tone, a mixture of panic and confusion, had Brian frozen in place instantly.
“What’s wrong?!” He called back.
When she didn’t respond, Brian dropped the broom and hurried back upstairs.
Aubrey was standing in the same exact spot, except she was looking down at her crotch. Well, trying to.
“Did I pee myself?” She asked. “Or did my water break?”
Brian’s eyes scanned her body to notice that there was a damp spot on her pants between her thighs.
“Either that or you’re just really excited I’m home,” Brian teased with a wink, wondering if she really did pee herself with how often she has to relieve her bladder lately.
“Are you kid-“
Before she could finish her sentence, the spot between her thighs got larger. Brian could hear liquid trickling down her leg.
“Tell me you just peed yourself some more, AC,” Brian whispered.
She shook her head with wide eyes.
He swallowed hard. “Okay,” he drawled with a nod, reigning in his emotions and remembering that he needed to be Aubrey’s rock through this, just like she had been for him so many times. “Okay. This is great. Let’s go have a baby.”
~
The room was quiet for the first time in hours. Aubrey watched as Brian sat in the chair beside her hospital bed, shirtless, holding their baby against his bare tattooed chest. He was looking down at the tiny human in adoration and disbelief.
She wished there was a way to bottle up a moment and hold onto it forever, because she never wanted to forget that sight or how she felt watching her husband hold their tiny newborn baby.
“You look so hot right now,” Aubrey said quietly.
Brian chuckled as he looked over at her and smiled. “Is ‘Dad’ a good look for me?”
“Oh yeah, I’m ready for you to knock me up all over again,” she confirmed.
He smirked then looked back at the little baby in his arms. “I can’t believe we have a baby.”
“A son,” Aubrey corrected.
“A son,” Brian confirmed with a proud smile.
As soon as she heard the doctor’s say, ‘It’s a boy!’ her eyes snapped to Brian to gauge his reaction. She wasn’t sure if he’d laugh over losing the ‘gender war,’ be mad or upset that their baby wasn’t a girl, or be shocked since he was so confident in his guess of the baby’s gender.
But the look on his face was an absolute work of art. There was so much pride, so much adoration, and so much love in his tear-filled eyes.
“A boy,” he had whispered, echoing the doctor’s words.
That memory will stay ingrained in her mind for the rest of her life.
When Brian showed up on her brother’s doorstep after Jimmy’s funeral, she didn’t know how to react. She had just landed her big promotion, and although she missed him dearly, she had been trying to learn how to move forward. She was afraid of giving in for the wrong reasons and didn’t want to end up in the same cycle of heartbreak then end up without a job or home, in an unfamiliar city, in an unfamiliar state.
However, Brian had been so desperate in his plea that Aubrey knew she only had two choices: stay in California or go back to Phoenix forever. It was his final attempt, his final plea. Now or never.
So, of course, she stayed.
Jimmy’s death had put things into perspective in a way that she never would’ve imagined. She couldn’t lose Brian again. She was offered a chance to make everything right, to make up for her mistakes. A final chance. A chance to show him that he does matter to her. She was stupid and didn’t make him her priority at first, but she would never make that mistake again. She would make sure that she never made him feel anything less than unconditionally loved ever again.
And she was so thankful that she had finally come to her senses. Even if it took something tragic to get her there.
A knock on the door snapped Aubrey out of her thoughts.
“Come in!” She called.
The door carefully opened to reveal five curious, excited faces.
Val, Matt, Zack, Johnny, and Johnny’s fiancée, Lacey.
“Can we come in?” Valary asked in a whisper.
“Come on in,” Brian answered, standing up with the baby.
“Oh my god, look how little,” Lacey cooed quietly.
“Why are we whispering?” Zacky asked, still whispering.
“Because you have to be quiet around babies, numb nuts,” Johnny informed.
“Hey, watch your language around my kid,” Brian scolded.
“Your kid,” Valary clutched her chest in worship of his words.
“Dude, wait, why is your shirt off?” Johnny questioned Brian.
“Shut up,” Lacey admonished as she smacked Johnny’s arm.
“Okay, okay, tell us!” Valary interrupted. “Tell us everything about our first Avenged Sevenfold baby!”
Aubrey smiled and watched as Brian began to swaddle the baby, a move he practiced so many times over the last few months.
“It’s a boy,” Aubrey proudly beamed.
Their friends erupted into a fit of exclamations, squeals, and cheers.
“Seven pounds, two ounces, twenty inches long,” Aubrey continued, watching as Brian put on his shirt then picked up the baby cocoon.
Valary sighed dreamily. “He’s perfect.”
“What’s his name?” Matt asked.
Brian held the baby so that his friends could see his angelic face then announced his name:
“Sullivan Ford Haner.”
Notes
The End.
This story has been in the works for over three years. I've posted it on three different writing sites. As a Word document, it's 321 pages long. There are 117,087 words. This whole story started from a random smutty dream I had, but I never dreamed I'd write this story that would be so long or so well-received by the readers. Thank you guys so much for reading and for loving Brian and Aubrey as much as I did. &*
This. Was. Friggen. Perfect.
12/30/19