"I managed to grab the last toothbrush on the shelf. Are you sure you don't want me to bring you a spare change of clothes?" Phoebe set the bag of shopping down on the side table.

"The pyjamas are all I need, Phoebe. Honestly. As long as we have snacks and nappies we are fine."  Monica started unloading the items into the drawer.

Johnny sat up against his father's chest as he sat on the top corner of the hospital bed, settled with his shoes and jacket off, watching his two children sitting across from each other on the mattress. Johnny's leg now had a temporary plastered cast on it, and was propped up on a pillow for comfort until the medical team would come along.

"Don't play with that, darling," Freddie gently lifted the blood pressure oximeter wired to Johnny's finger out of Roshni's small hands. "We need that to see if Johnny's a healthy boy and if you break it, well, that wouldn't do much good, would it?"

"What it do?" She asked as he set it down on the side table.

"I don't have a bloody clue..." Freddie wanted to say.

"It keeps a rate of how well your brother is."

"Do it hurt?" She asked.

Freddie looked at Johnny for answers, and the boy just shook his head silently, a deadpan facial expression.

"He's been so brave... two years of age, and I can't last two bloody minutes inside a room with a llama." Freddie thought, hand running through his son's brown hair affectionately.

"Daddy, where's my teddy?" Roshni crawled over to him.

"Oh, your teddy is at home in your cot." He continued to rub Johnny's head.

"But why Johnny got his?!" She pointed at his bear tucked under the duvet, her small lips in a pout.

"Because he will be sleeping with mummy here tonight after the doctors fix his leg," he let her crawl under his arm so that he was now cuddled up with his two children. "You, me and Phoebe will be coming home."

Meanwhile Monica stood at the window once she'd finished unpacking, looking out at the street and city lights below.

"Tough situation, huh?" Phoebe joined her. "Do you want to go outside for a walk?"

"Maybe down the corridor will do. It's a cold night." Her voice turned down to a hush as she anxiously looked over at her family on the bed.

He nodded and linked arms with her, "The corridor it is then... we won't be a minute.'

"Monica, love, are you alight?" Freddie lifted his head.

"Oh, I am fine," she swallowed, and rubbed their heads. "Mummy's just going outside for a bit."

"Are you sure?" He noticed tears in her eyes.

She pushed him back down gently, "I'm alright, I just need a little walk."

"We both do." Phoebe opened the door.

"But you've both been on your feet all day!" Freddie said.

"Trust me, I'll feel better." She exhaled.

"Well, alright then. Come here, you two." Freddie sat up against the headboard,allowing them to nestle back close.

She smiled, and shut the door after her upon leaving.

"Feebs, do you think Freddie and I are bad parents?" She whispered the moment the door clicked shut.

"Of course not." he put his hand on her back as they began walking.

"It's just... back home, most young mothers have a reputation for being senseless and... all I want is the best for them." She put her hand on her mouth to muffle her sobs.

"Well," he giggled slightly. "I think you will find that wherever you may go, but easy... I don't think you're senseless. You are still with the daddy of the babies, and you have a lovely home..." he rubbed her back.

"But I eloped with a rockstar-well, moved in, I should really say," she wiped her tears. "And most people question if I know what it is that I am doing."

"I assume that you're following your gut the whole way through, am I right?" Phoebe whispered.

"Absolutely... If I didn't know what I was doing I'd stop immediately. But when I found out I was pregnant we'd been together for almost a year, it just felt so... well, aside from the misunderstanding it still felt so right."

"What misunderstanding?" Phoebe suddenly asked.

"Oh... did Freddie not ever tell you?"

The fact that Phoebe was new to such a story spoke volumes. As a personal assistant, Phoebe too knew that there were things about
Freddie not tell to people, but perhaps the were things that Freddie had chosen to hide from him.

"No... what happened?" He was a little more curious.

She sighed, hating when she had to recollect painful memories.

"Basically, we'd been talking about it here and there.. having a child, I mean. Then, I suspected that I was," her hand took hold of her other wrist uncomfortably as Phoebe listened, all ears. "Freddie had noticed that I was hiding something. I was away from home longer because I wanted to work more hours to earn more money for the baby... but he mistook that as me seeing somebody else."

"He never told me any of this!"

"To be honest, I don't blame him... because I don't think he has ever really forgave himself for the way he treated me after he saw me talking to a man at a club... it was the same day I found out I was pregnant actually."

"Did all hell break loose?" Phoebe asked.

She nodded silently, "...He was verbally abusive when we got home that night, I just had to ruin the surprise to shut him up... I ran to Deaky and Veronica's for refuge. Turns out that when I was asleep, John had telephoned Freddie to let him know of my whereabouts... he'd proposed to me that weekend after we'd made up and everything." She gently twisted her diamond ring on her finger. "...But I do think he feels that our engagement was overshadowed by the misunderstanding."

"...I know Freddie has a temper, but I-I won't ask for details." He finally responded, dumbfounded.

"I don't think he trusts himself as a father, Phoebe," she continued. "I tell him to follow his paternal instincts but he says his temper is too short... when he knows he's about to lose his patience, he panics and that's when he gets you or me to step in. All because of what happened that night. And that arsehole of a doctor didn't help either, those things are going to knock his confidence, you understand?"

"Of course I do, absolutely!" He assured her.

"Don't tell him anything about what I just told you... he can't know that you know about the misunderstanding, alright?" She pleaded, beginning to panic when she heard the door open in the distance.

A man in a white coat appeared with a team of nurses rushing behind him, wheeling a metal bed frame.

"Who's next on our list... Bulsara..?" He murmured, eyeing the clipboard schedule.

"That's us! Well, that's my boss's son. This is his mother." Phoebe caught his attention, pushing Monica forward.

"Ahh, Johnny?" The surgeon lifted his head. "We were on our way to his unit now. The operating theatre is waiting."

"Oh good!" Monica wiped a tear away.

As much as she was ready to get the operation out of the way she was also anxious and hoped the two year old boy wouldn't struggle against anaesthetic. Aside from when she was giving birth, it was the first time in a while that she was kept in at a hospital for serious matters.

"A broken leg from a nasty fall into a dug-up pit, is it?"

She nodded, "It was dinner time, and when I went looking I found him laying at the bottom of it."

"Not to worry, we will get his bones back in place in no time." The surgeon replied.

Monica looked at Phoebe in disbelief at how this doctor was more cheerful than the last one, and didn't once question what cases Johnny's accident.

"I feel so awful that I put him through this." She said again as I they walked along.

"I've seen plenty of this in my time. I assure you, madam, you're doing all right."

"Maybe that last doctor was a moron after all." Phoebe whispered to her as the team flooded into the unit.

Freddie, who was still on the bed with the twins, just as Phoebe and Monica had left them, looked up, "What's going on?"

"Mr Bulsara, I'm Dr Barker. I'll be performing surgery on your little boy's leg." He held his hand out.

"Oh, please. Mercury will do." Freddie sat up a bit, gently laying Johnny back down on the bed.

"Mercury? ...Ah yes, I recognise you now, you sang We Are The Champions!" He stuttered, slightly star struck.

Freddie chuckled as the nurses giggled bashfully, "yes, that's me."

"I wonder how he deals with this so humbly." Monica murmured, rubbing Roshni's head as she lingered at her feet.

"Well, we're here to move Johnny into surgery now." The surgeon put his pen into his top pocket. "If you all can please clear for the nurses to move him onto our operating bed."

"Oh, of course." Monica lifted Roshni out of their road.

"Mummy?!" Johnny looked around skeptically as they lifted his teddy out of his arms and removed the pillow from under his leg.

"Mummy will be with you the whole time, alright?" She handed Roshni to Phoebe, rushing over as they lowered him onto the new bed.

Freddie also rushed to his bedside, wanting to spend each minute he could to soothe him until the time came.

"Sing something, daddy." the surgeon kindly suggested as the team started wheeling him out the door, and Phoebe made sure to grab Freddie's brown leather jacket and shoes off the seat as well as Johnny's bear.

"What would you like me to sing?" He rushed by, sticking as close as he could.

"Anything!" Monica let Johnny squeeze her thumb for dear life as he looked up in fright, the team wheeling him into the wide and narrow elevator.

He tried to think of the most comforting and uplifting song as he stuck close by.

"Open up your mind and let me step inside," he began to sing, rubbing his son's forehead. "Rest your weary head and let your heart decide."

Johnny's whimpers had hushed, and the team had turned silent as he continued to sing along to Play the Game.

But once the elevator doors swung open, commotion kicked back in.

He had to sing louder and project his voice as they wheeled him down another corridor, this time more daunting than the last one.

"Which one of you is going to stay?" The surgeon asked.

"I'll volunteer." Monica answered within a trice.

"You might as well take this then." Phoebe handed her his bear.

The team stopped them when they reached the double door, "You're not allowed to go past without protective gear at this point."

Freddie looked helplessly at Monica, "What am I supposed to do?!"

"Go home, it's late. Roshni should've been put to bed an hour ago." She let them wheel Johnny away.

"But I never got to say goodbye-"

"I'll give him your love." Monica kissed Roshni's head. "And you be a good little girl for daddy and Feebs, okay?"

"Mumma no!" Her lip trembled as her hands grabbed onto her mother's shirt.

"I have to go be with your brother, he's very frightened right now." She explained softly, prying her little fingers off.

Freddie looked into the window of the double doors as they gently started putting a hospital gown on Johnny, then he stepped back.

"Don't let him out of your sight." He pulled Monica into his arms as Phoebe started comforting Roshni.

"I doubt the hospital would let that happen..." Her breath hitched as she pressed her face into his neck.

"Oh darling, you're doing wonderful." He pulled away slightly and kissed her head.

"Mummy, we need you now." A nurse placed a hand on her shoulder.

Freddie watched as she, with terrified tears in her eyes, was dragged away into the double doors.

"Call the house when it's over!" Phoebe managed to shout, patting Roshni's back.

A silence followed the sound of the double doors slamming closed, with only the muffled speech of the nurses behind them. Freddie looked through the window and watched as one of the nurses threw a blue overgarment into Monica's arms. Fumbling, she pulled it on and stood by the bedside, holding the boy's head still with the help of one of the nurses as the kind Doctor Barker started looking for a vein in his arm to insert the drip in.

Tears fell from Freddie's eyes as he watched Johnny thrashing in pain, Monica desperately holding him down.

"We should go." Phoebe put his hand on his shoulder.

"But how do I know he is going to be alright?"

"He will be fine! Just let the doctors do what it is that they have to do." He reassured him.

"Daddy..." Roshni whined over Phoebe's shoulder.

"Yes, love" he reached over and rubbed her head.

"I hungry... and this place scary!" She complained.

"How about we go out to eat, take our minds off of it, eh?" Phoebe set her down on the ground, holding her hand.

"We can make a stop at Pontevegio's," Freddie sighed. "Might as well refuel on pizza before we answer all the worried telephone calls waiting."

"Good idea." Phoebe dug through his pocket for the car keys.

"Pizza! Pizza!!" Roshni babbled excitedly, clapping her hands.

Freddie momentarily looked back at the double doors leading to the entrance of the operating theatre, before turning away and watching as his daughter quickly toddled up the corridor, his assistant rushing after her to make sure she wouldn't go too far.

"Well, I don't know how to fix a bloody leg, do I?" He thought as he gained pace to catch up with them.

***

"Mrs Bulsara?"

Monica felt someone shaking her arm gently.

She was jolted awake as she sat slumped in the waiting room.

"Mrs Bulsara, your son-"

"It's-It's Brannigan actually," she blushed. "We aren't married... yet.

"Sorry, Miss Brannigan, your son's leg is set and the anaesthetic is going to ware off soon. The procedure is over." The nurse explained.

She felt a huge weight lifting off her shoulders, "How long-that was quick!"

"It's nothing new. He'll be ready to wheel back to the unit once we've finished plastering his leg cast." She helped her stand up.

"Thank you so much!"  She shook her hand.

"Come this way." She lead her towards the theatre.

She went in, and Johnny was still lying unconscious under the spotlight on the operating table as the team still tended to him, bandaging his leg and pulling his medical drip out.

"There you are, mummy," Doctor Barker pulled his oxygen mask down. "He's all done and wrapped up. It'll take 24 hours for his cast to dry."

"Oh, my brave, brave boy... thank you, doctor." she sighed in relief as she rubbed Johnny's head.

"Wait until I tell Freddie" she thought, watching as the boy's eyelids twitched.

Later that night...

Freddie tossed and turned in his empty bed, unable to sleep alone.

Monica's phone call had come as a relief. But after they exchanged their I love yous and set the receiver down he still was unable to put his guilty mind at rest.

He thought about all the possibilities his negligence could've led to. He knew his fears were a little far fetched, but what if his little boy had died? What if Johnny died breaking his neck, or cracking his head open on a stone? What if Johnny laid forgotten, and caught hypothermia? What if he'd died alone in the cold and wet thinking his mummy and daddy didn't love him because he'd waited for them to come and they never did?

"No... no. He's been found, you were lucky..." he told himself when he felt the waterworks.

Instinctively he reached for a cigarette and lit it between his teeth in the hope that it'd relax him.

"Monica will go barking mad if she sees I've been smoking around our children." He thought a moment later, sighing as he threw himself up and stubbed out his cigarette on his bedside ashtray.

He marched across the bedroom and grabbed his bed robe hanging on the back of the door, and made his way out of the master suite, slipping his arms through and rubbing his eyes as he found his way through the dark.

He pushed the nursery door open gently and tiptoed towards Roshni's cot.

"My little angel... thank god one of you is alright." He whispered, staring at the small child sleeping under the moonlight cracking through the curtain gap.

It fell on her black curls, her mouth hung open in peace as she lay curled up on her side against her teddy bear, dressed for bed in her footy one piece. She still had a trace of tomato sauce from the large bowl of bolognese she'd half eaten at the restaurant dried on her cheek that Phoebe must've missed when wiping her clean with a napkin.

He reached in and scraped if off before taking her by her torso softly lifting her out. She was the closet thing he had to Monica at that moment, let alone his son as well.

"Shhh shhh... go back to sleep, baby. Daddy's just feeling a little lonely tonight..." he crooned as he pulled her limp body against his chest as she began to incomprehensibly babble in her sleep, pressing his lips to her head resting against his shoulder.

He ever so lightly rocked her as he gathered her blanket and bear from between the bars, then slowly carried her out the door.

One of the cats shot across the corridor in his path in the dark, startling him.

He made it back to the master suite safely without tripping over anything or any cat, lowering himself on the bed as he cradled his daughter, tucking her teddy under her arm.

He never got a lot of moments like these with his children, let alone have one-to-one time with them when he got home from the studio, or coming back from being away on tour months at a time.

He laid back gently, pulling his thick duvet back up and putting his hand protectively against her back as he got settled.

He looked down at the warm, beautiful being laying contently still, her cheek pressed against his bare chest as his own eyes began to droop.

"Why am I even worrying about how I am as a parent?" He thought, lifting his head to plant a light kiss on Roshni's crown one last time before closing his eyes. "I'm doing all right..."

Early the next morning, when Phoebe had just arrived and walked into the master bedroom to look for his boss, he couldn't resist picking up Monica's Polaroid sitting on the top of the chest of drawers and snapping the sweet, sleeping sight.