Strength Of The World

TWO YEARS LATER —

Lincoln was sitting on his mom’s shoulders, dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt that said ‘I’m with the band’ in bold black letters, and his leather jacket with Avenged Sevenfold’s logo on the back with a pair of black converse on his feet and a pair of huge headphones on his head, cheering on his dad and uncles as they played Unholy Confessions for a sold out arena. Val was standing beside them, one hand on her growing baby bump, the other holding her godson’s left hand, Michelle and Lacey standing next to her. “Thank you Portland for an amazing night! See y’all next time!” Matt shouted into the mic as Linc cheered happily, seeing his father come off the stage. “Hey little man! Did you enjoy your first show?” Zack asked, grabbing his excited son off his shoulders and kissing his wife. The two year old nodded his head excitedly, trying to pull the headphones off his ears. “Hang on buddy, you gotta wait until we’re away from the stage.” Peyton chuckled, pulling his tiny hands away. Lincoln huffed but obeyed his mother, looking around the room. “Jahnee!” He squealed when his eyes landed on the bassist. The man laughed loudly and held his fist up, “What’s up my dude?” Linc bumped fists with him and then reached for him. “Jahnee I hold you!” He shouted, trying his hardest to get to Johnny, who happily grabbed him out of Zack’s arms and took off running toward the dressing room, the sound of Lincoln’s laughter filling the hallway. Zack put his arm around Peyton’s shoulders and kissed her temple. “So, the show’s over.” He hinted with a grin. “Wanna go back to the showers for a quickie?” Peyton laughed loudly and put her arm around his waist. “That’s actually not a bad idea.” “Oh no you two.” Brian said, coming up behind them. “Last time that happened we walked in on you too. I really don’t want to see my sister in that sort of position again.” “But Bri, that’s one of the best positions.” Peyton teased, knowing it made Brian cringe any time she and Zack talked about sex. Brian made a disgusted face and plugged his ears with his fingers, “LALALALALA I’M NOT LISTENING!” He shouted, sounding like a kid. “Wow Brian are you like five now?” Zack laughed. Brian stuck his tongue out at the other guitarist and Peyton rolled her eyes. “Take a rain check babe. We’ve got a little boy who has been up way past his bedtime.” She kissed Zack quickly and walked inside the dressing room, where Lincoln was two seconds away from a melt down. “Johnny what’d you do?” Michelle asked him with a laugh, going to pick up her nephew. “I didn’t do anything, other than not share my beer. I didn’t share it because I’m almost completely positive that his mother would have killed me.” The bassist explained with a shrug. “You’re right. She would have. Remember that time he got ahold of my Jack?” Brian asked with a chuckle. “I thought I was for sure a dead man.” “Brian! He was DRUNK! You got your fifteen month old godson drunk!” Peyton said loudly. “Yeah man who the fuck gets a toddler drunk.” Johnny huffed. “I’m not even stupid enough to do that.” “Yeah but I bet he slept good that night.” Brian argued. “He might have, but she was up all night watching him sleep. Which means she didn’t sleep. And do you know what happens when Peyton doesn’t sleep?” Zack said, making a stabbing motion with his fist. “That’s probably why you can’t babysit anymore dude.” Matt spoke up from his spot on the couch. “Now that I think of it, you probably won’t babysit our kid either.” He chuckled. “Aw come on. It was one time. I’ve been fine every other time we’ve watched him.” Brian pouted. “Yeah you’re right, we just can’t leave you unsupervised with him.” Michelle laughed.

The guys all excused themselves to go shower and change before they headed to get some dinner and drinks. Peyton decided that she would just take Lincoln back to the hotel and order room service and watch tv, and Zack promised he wouldn’t be too late. Once they were back at the hotel she ordered them some food and they watched a few cartoons while they ate their dinner, then Peyton got herself and her son ready for bed, and as soon as his little head hit the pillow he was asleep. Peyton sat there for the longest time watching him sleep. Lincoln looked just like Zack, from his pouty lips to his perfect little nose and he even had the same hairline as Zack. The one thing he did get from Peyton was a pair of bright blue eyes. He was usually a pretty chill kid until he got mad, then his mother really came out in him. He loves music, hearing his daddy and uncles play is probably one of his favorite things, other than cars. Peyton smiled as her husband walked through the door of their hotel room, thinking about how far they had come in the past two years. Everything was going great for them, their relationship and marriage was stronger than ever, the band was doing really well, Peyton had decided to be a stay at home mom and would sometimes help out with Vengeance University, and their little boy was happy and healthy. They had everything they have ever wanted, and Peyton couldn’t ask for more than that.

Notes

Okay, that’s a wrap! I want to thank all of you guys for reading, reviewing, and subscribing! It means a lot to me. I MIGHT do a sequel to this one, it depends on what kind of crazy shit I can think of. But for now I’m going to be working on my other story, Times Like These. Thanks again for reading this!