Dunseverick, Northern Ireland

"Easy on the gin, Mo," Paula remarked, "It's not even midday yet!"

"Give a girl a break!" Monica dismissively retorted as she poured from the bottle of Gordon's into her empty glass for a few more seconds, then set it down on the bistro garden table and reached for the Schweppes tonic water.

Ms McIntyre waveringly shook her head, and from her spot on the edge of the Brannigan's garden she watched her friend's twin son and daughter as they both played and scampered across the front lawn in the sunshine with her pet dog Max, their cheers and laughter filling up the background.

She looked back to their mother, whose attention was focused elsewhere other than Johnny and Roshni as she tightened the woollen tartan blanket loosely draped around her shoulders and threw back a large amount of the gin and tonic in her hand.

Unbeknownst to Paula, her friend was in fact happy to be where she was. When on tour with Freddie, Monica had been to plenty of coastal cities in her time; Los Angeles, Nice, Sydney, Rio... But she couldn't remember the last time she had been to a place beside the sea where she was given enough time to stop and enjoy it, and perhaps the alcohol was only enhancing the warm, wonderful feelings of being back to her homeland.

"So..." Paula made conversation, slipping her hand through her cropped peroxide hair, "Do you think that they will adjust to being away for so long?"

Monica burped and slammed her glass down onto the table, "Who?"

"The twins and boarding school, of course!"

"Oh! Well, it's hard to tell," Monica answered, thinking aloud as she lazily rested her head on her elbow, "Boarding school is not originally what he wanted for them"

"You mean Freddie?" Paula quipped, anxiously lifting the bottle of Gordon's out of her friend's reach.

"Mmhm," she nodded, "But he told me that it gave him independence at a young age. I can't see why he wouldn't want that for Johnny and Roshni either"

"Maybe that means Freddie's actually worried for them after all," Monica silently hoped, "which could mean that he will actually be more interested in how they're doing now that they'll be away from home..."

"Which one out of the two of them do think would settle in the quickest then?" Paula leaned in closer to her.

"Are you trying to therapize me for free?!"

"I just want to know what you think, Mo!" her friend put her hands up in defence.

But she couldn't bear the thought of them both getting homesick for London or missing their family for long periods, especially when they didn't have much luck in their last school. Roshni already got locked up in the coal shed by some mean, jealous bullies, and it wasn't unlikely to happen again anytime soon. After all, their father happened to be one of the world's greatest rock stars.

Needless to say she sighed gently, and complied:

"Okay, well I think that Roshni will get used to it soon enough, although I can tell that she's scared of missing home and the cats... On the other hand, Johnny might take time to settle."

"Is that so?" Paula probed.

Monica nodded, "He doesn't always like big changes."

"A few of my child clientele are like that, especially when they move house or change schools," Her friend explained, "According to experts that could also be a symptom of mental disorders or learning difficulties such as Autism or OCD, but obviously we don't know enough about those yet"

Monica scoffed, "Johnny definitely doesn't have OCD, he won't even pick his dirty socks up off the floor!"

"Well, there's still time!" Paula laughed.

Throughout their conversation, Monica was watching the twins playing with Paula's large, gangly dog on the lawn; Johnny was squealing on the ground as Max dragged him across the grass by the hood of his grey hoodie in his floppy mouth, meanwhile Roshni was clutching her stomach as she cackled with laughter.

"You know, their father would be having a fit if he could see this right now," Monica chuckled, and changed the subject, "I remember when you first told me about Max last summer..."

Paula tipped her white cat-eye sunglasses down a little, "Oh yeah?"

"Uh huh, I thought that he was a fella!"

"No, not at all," Paula casually brushed it aside before trailing off, solemnly leaning back into her seat, "Still, Max is the only love of my life at the moment"

"I didn't mean it like that, Paula" Monica regretfully straightened up and reached over to touch her friend's arm, thinking that she had offended her, "You're a catch, any man would be lucky to-"

"It's not men that I'm after, Mo" Paula interrupted her.

"Then what are you after? Another job? A PhD? Motherhood?" Monica listed off.

"No, no, I do want love eventually," Her friend had now turned quiet and serious, her face flat and tense as she explained, "I just don't want it right now, and I don't want it with a man either..."

And just like that, the penny had dropped.

"You're gay?!" Monica exclaimed, drawing her hand to her mouth.

"Shush, keep your voice down!!" Paula hissed, looking around apprehensively.

"Sorry!" she quickly apologised, still in disbelief as she gushed, "I just never would've thought it. You were always so confident and loud, and you used to go on about boys all the time!"

"Listen, Mo. That whole 'boy-mad' thing... that was just a cover up," Paula grabbed her hands as she began to explain, "I was insecure and in denial for years about whether I actually liked girls or not, and practically everywhere I looked I was being told that it was wrong!"

"Oh, Paula..." Monica pitifully cooed.

"And you know what else? I noticed on the first day of high school that you were a little shy as well," Paula continued, "I suppose that's why you and I clicked back then because I hoped that I could help you become more self-confident than I was at that point in time, and maybe... maybe I'd-I'd feel better about myself for doing something nice for someone else"

Paula was blubbering the last sentence, and soon began to sob in front of her.

It was unusual and difficult for Monica to see her upbeat, vivid friend getting emotional, let alone trying to process the fact that she was gay in the first place.

But it made sense as to why her friend had an edgy, expressive image overhaul since they'd last met and why she hadn't updated her on her dating life in years like she always used to.

All that was left for Monica to do was to show her friend the love and support that she deserved:

"Oh Paula, come here," Monica opened her arms, "You did a fantastic job, still are"

"Thank you for understanding... I hope this doesn't change anything" Paula stretched across to hug her friend in return as her green eyes cried tears of relief.

"But of course, it doesn't. Why would it?" she rubbed circles into her back as she held her.

The two friends sat and embraced one another, having strengthened their friendship even more, just as Lenny Brannigan emerged from the cottage:

"Woah! Did somebody die or what?" her younger brother jokingly asked.

"Nobody except the old Paula" Monica told him as she playfully glared back over Paula's shoulder.

Paula giggled at such an ambiguous response. Puzzled, Lenny shrugged and turned away to his niece and nephew, pausing to gape at the massive dog jollily galloping circles around him.

"Look, Max is happy to meet Uncle Lenny!" one of the twins said giggling.

After a moment to themselves Monica pulled away, and asked her, "What are you going to do now? Tell your family?"

"Not yet," Paula dried her cheeks with a tissue from her crocodile leather bag, and went on, "Anyway, I also came here to tell you that the gay scene in Belfast is a little too quiet for me. So, I have been looking at flat listings in London recently."

"You mean, you're going to move over?"

"That's the plan!" Paula said excitedly, sniffling, "We can hang out again like the good old days," she lifted her box of cigarettes off the table and shook them gently, "Maybe I'll even quit these while I'm over there. The rent costs a bomb, and I can't waste any more money on nicotine!"

"I wish Freddie would stop smoking too," Monica jeered, then cautiously asked, "Now that you're a lesbian, are you going to have some fun when you move over?"

"Freddie or some of his friends might know a few good spots for a night in the town" she thought.

Paula put her cigarette in between her bold burgundy lips, speaking through her teeth, "Well, to be honest with you I'm in no rush to find a partner," she lowered her voice so that the children couldn't hear, "Let alone start having crazy sex with lots and lots of women..."

Monica giggled, "Really? Don't you get urges?"

"Naaahhh! Well, not all the time anyway," Paula shielded her cigarette from the breeze as she lit it, "Besides, homosexuality has only been legal in Great Britain for almost twenty years but somehow it's still a big fucking deal to people. And this gay disease isn't exactly helping."

"What, AIDS?" Monica absentmindedly asked.

"Yeah," Paula answered her, almost ranting, "Plus, I want to move out before the intolerant, 'churchy' folk here start telling me that I'll burn in hell!"

Likewise, the notion of Freddie testing HIV positive madeMonica shudder with fear. Even if, as far as she knew, he hadn't had sex with another man for nine years he had already lost old friends to it.

"And Johnny and Roshni, how do I explain it to them if he does test positive for it?" She thought, looking at them both playing on the lawn.

Roshni was patting Max on the head as reclined on the grass after running circles around Lenny, who all the while was swinging his hyperactive nephew Johnny upside down by his ankles as he screeched, and his long brown hair hung down like a brush.

But they both looked so carefree as children should be and she knew that a thought as painful as Freddie dying wasn't worth dwelling on, especially if she herself didn't know enough information about the disease itself and how it spread.

"Well, that's good that you're doing something for yourself for once," Monica folded her arms intently, "What finally made you crack?"

"Some of my regulars at work are closeted souls like myself, as well as classmates from Uni" Paula took a drag of her cigarette.

She giggled, "You certainly learn a good bit from your clientele, don't you?"

"You could say that, yeah," Paula blushed, "They help me pay my bills and come to terms with the truth of my sexuality, but I'd rather explore it when I feel more comfortable to do so. This is all new to me."

"Poor Derek, if only he knew," Monica reminisced, "You remember Derek, don't you?"

She furrowed her brows, "Was that somebody from school? Or..."

"Derek! You know, the guy you went back with on your eighteenth birthday while I went back with Freddie"

"Oh, that guy! Well, that was the night when I definitely knew that I liked girls a lot more," Paula snickered as she tipped some ash onto the ground beside her and told her, "...He was too rough!"

They both practically cackled, so loud that Patsy could hear them from her open Dutch door as she passed by. 

She stopped to watch and smiled to herself, for at last her little Mo was in better form that she had been when she arrived last night, or so it seemed.

"Mum!!" Roshni called out as she ran towards their table excitedly.

Monica calmed down when she noticed, "You alright, love?"

"Uncle Lenny says there's an amusement park near here!" the girl gabbled excitedly, climbing onto her mother's lap.

"Does he really?" Monica kissed the side of her head.

"Maybe he means Barry's in Portrush!" Paula added, animatedly wiggling her eyebrows.

Roshni confirmed, "Yes! Can we go today?!'

"A fairground, and a comet all in one day? Won't that be too much fun?" Monica queried teasingly.

"Oh Mo, why don't you loosen up a bit? They're on their holidays!" Paula took a long drag of her cigarette.

"Well, seems I'm outvoted on the matter anyway," Monica nodded and lifted her daughter off her lap, "I suppose it'll give us something to do, and I'll bring my Super 8 along"

"Yay!" Roshni cheered, and ran towards her brother, "Johnny, guess where we're going later!!"

"Would you like to come to Portrush with us as well, Aunty Paula?" Monica offered.

"I don't see why not, so long as Barry's allows large dogs like my Max into their vicinity," Paula rested her lit cigarette on her empty glass and stood up, fixing her monochrome skirt, "Anyway, which way to the bog?"

"The toilet is the second door to your left in the main corridor."

"Thanks, shouldn't be so hard to find in a small house" her friend quickly kissed her on the cheek.

Monica smiled and watched her walking back across the grass, affectionately patting her beloved Max's head along the way, only to notice that Paula had a newfound spring in her step...

Los Angeles, sometime in 1979...

"Phoebe, put the umbrella in the bag, will you?" Freddie asked as she slipped into his black leather bomber jacket.

"Certainly" Phoebe complied, going to the bedroom to get the contraption from his open suitcase.

He nodded and thanked him as he continued to stand and wait by the window of his hotel suite for the telephone phone call from reception downstairs to tell him that his car taking him to rehearsals for Queen's concert at the Hollywood Bowl had arrived, looking out as the downpour bucketing across the sprawling southern Californian city.

It was unusual for a place as arid as Los Angeles to have rainfall in the summer, but Freddie was sure that it would pass by since the weather had been good otherwise.

Amidst the rain loudly thrashing against the glass, he heard a melody coming from somewhere...

"I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky... like a tiger..."

The sound was coming from the bathroom, where Monica was half-humming and singing Don't Stop Me Now as she bathed their twin babies.

She had been to Queen's concert the night before, and therefore he couldn't blame her for having his new hit from the Jazz album stuck in her head, for it was a contagiously ecstatic ear-worm of a song. But she was also in a happy mood from the day before when he surprised her with a brochure to their new home that he had purchased and overall, Monica was feeling optimistic about their future.

So, Freddie absentmindedly treaded across the hotel suite and peered into the doorway to watch and listen some more; even though Monica's voice could be off-key and her vocal control wasn't the strongest, he never got to hear her imperfect singing that much.

When he got there Monica was still dressed in her white silk pyjamas with the sleeves rolled halfway up her arms and her long brown hair tied into a loose bun at the nape of her neck. 

She hummed the happy tune as she gently poured the warm bath water onto Johnny and Roshni's heads with one of her cupped hands and using her fingers to gently rinse suds from their wisps of hair. All the while they both gleefully splashed about in their small plastic basin sitting in the tub, smiling and giggling at one another.

"Oh, aren't you two both so silly!" she cooed once again in her 'baby voice' before she continued to sing, "I'm a racing car passing by, like Lady Godiva..."

Freddie smiled to himself. How he wished he could stay in from the rain and keep watching.

But Johnny and Roshni both flailed their chubby little arms elatedly when they saw their daddy poking his head through the gap in the door, ultimately blowing his cover.

Monica looked over her shoulder, doing a bashful double take, "Oh! I thought you were supposed to be getting ready to go to the sound rehearsal for tonight"

Freddie wordlessly stepped into the bathroom and lowered himself onto the floor, sitting himself down behind her.

"Stop, I'm trying to wash them!" Monica laughed as he wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck, "Freddie, you're going to be late!"

"I don't care, I'm always the late one anyway" He murmured into her skin.

"I wonder why that is" she smirked, and continued wash the twins as she sang, "Oh, I'm burnin' through the sky, yeah..."

Throughout, one of Freddie's hands wondered to the neckline of her pyjamas, and his slender fingers nimbly started undoing her top button.

"Oi!" Monica protested as he slipped his hand into the gap, "The babies will think that they're getting milk if they see you do that!"

"They're not the only ones who get excited at the merchandise, dearie" Freddie teased, gently fondling one of her breasts as he kissed her neck.

She gasped, and threw her head back as she dizzily and inaudibly let out, "I-I... love you"

At that second the bedside telephone finally rang, beckoning for Freddie and his entourage to leave.

"What was that you said?" he lifted his head from her neck and drew his arm back, pretending not to hear her properly over the sound of the phone.

He had Monica convinced, for she repeated a little louder, "I love you"

"Still can't hear you, dearie" Freddie smirked, bearing the infectious and cheeky smile that she came to adore.

Monica rolled her eyes playfully when she realised it was one of his games, and sighed, "For goodness' sake, I said I love you!"

"Much better," he pouted his lips for her to kiss him, "I love you too"

She closed her eyes and kissed him back, instinctively running her fingers through his feathered raven hair before breaking away to give Johnny and Roshni a final rinse.

"You two behave yourselves while I'm gone," Freddie crooned as he leaned into the tub to lovingly caress and kiss their cherub-like faces, before mischievously patting their mother's breasts one more time, "And don't forget to leave some for me later"

Monica tutted, but pleaded as he stood back up, "Come back if you have time"

"We shall see, darling" he took his aviators out of his pocket and put them on, slipping away from her and out the bathroom door....

Musicland, Munich, East Germany, around 6:30pm...

"Freddie... Earth to Freddie..." a soft male voice droned.

It was then followed by a huskier one, "Forget it, Brian. I don't think he was actually listening to you"

Freddie was drawn back from his nostalgic daydream from when everything was so easy and wonderful and into the cold, white Musicland canteen lit up by neon signs on the walls.

"Ugh!! He's making that stupid face again!" Roger Taylor nagged.

Freddie looked up from his spot on the plastic bench to see the slightly annoyed drummer and Brian May both standing over and looking down at him.

"Maybe he's starting to wilt, it's been another long day" John Deacon sympathetically suggested from across the room, noticing that their frontman had dark circles under his eyes from his lack of sleep.

"Yes, I think Deaky's right, it's time for a break" Freddie straightened up in his seat, rubbing his blank face as he slowly regained consciousness.

"You already started taking a break a few minutes ago, remember?" Phoebe emerged around the corner, bringing plastic cups of coffee from the machine in the foyer.

"Oh, thank you" he took one from him as Roger, Brian and John dispersed across the canteen.

Phoebe slid in next to him, "Listen, after dinner Bri is going to set up his telescope in-"

"You mean to tell me that Brian brought his fucking telescope to Germany?" Freddie cut across him, and now he wasn't so fatigued or unalert.

"Yes! As I was saying, Brian was going to set up his telescope in the English park and try and get a last glimpse of the comet." Phoebe explained.

"The one that's been in the news this past month?" Freddie uttered, sipping his coffee, "Halley's comet, or whatever?"

"Mmhm," his assistant nodded, and continued, "He asked John and Roger already, and now he's asking us if you want to come too"

"Why would he even think of asking me?" Freddie pondered.

Usually when he was in Munich he liked a night on the town, or even bar hopping. But most of his German friends were either dead or dying from AIDS, and an astronomical event was the least of his interests.

But he knew why Brian considered including him. Even if Live Aid had given his career a much-needed boost, the band's future unanimously seemed uncertain now that they were all getting older. And the tour coming up in the summer was probably going to be Queen's last if things didn't go accordingly.

"It'll be nice, Fred," John shyly interjected, having overheard their conversation, "Like the good old days, don't you think?"

Maybe this comet was another chance for the four of them to make fond memories.

*****

Whitepark Bay, North Coast of Ireland, around 8pm

"Well, I can see a few stars already," Lenny Brannigan said, surveying the night sky and leading the way for his family with his lit torch, "The cloud cover might disperse by the time we get down to the beach and we should be able to see the comet"

"It won't take long to get to the beach, will it?" Monica repeated, the twins both eagerly lagging ahead of her and their grandmother in the dark.

"Not at all Mo, there's a shortcut through the sand dunes" her father answered, and added, "Such a pity we couldn't take you here during the daytime, it's a stunning beach in the sunshine"

"This better be worth staying up late for, not like the moon landing," Patsy Brannigan irked, "Next morning we had not one but two cranky children to deal with!"

"That was a once-in-a-lifetime event, dear. So is this!" her husband reasoned, nudging his son with his elbow, "You remember that back in '69, don't ye? You were wee but we woke you all up so that you could watch it"

"Of course. But imagine how much more spectacular the first walk on the moon could've looked in technicolour" Lenny insinuated.

Monica added, "And with higher definition cameras like we have nowadays, but I suppose we'll have to make do with our own eyes this time"

Whitepark Bay Beach was only a few minutes' drive down the road from the Brannigan's new cottage. Shortly after dinner, the group dressed and wrapped up warmly before piling into Mr Brannigan's car and taking off there in search of Halley's comet, as promised. Once they parked the car, they climbed over the gate and started making their way along the windy, descending pathway with only Lenny's torch to guide them and glimpses of the moonlight illuminating the outline of the hilly sand dunes. The farther they walked down, the louder the crashing, booming waves sounded below as they echoed off the tall limestone cliffs overhead.

"Race you to that big sand dune and back," Johnny suddenly challenged his sister, and sped off the path, "Last one is a rotten egg!"

"That's not fair, you started without me!" Roshni whinged, taking off after him onto the grass.

"Hey! Don't run too far in the dark, you'll get lost!!" Monica called after them both.

"That's what you get for pumping them up with ice cream and candy floss earlier today" Patsy rebuked by her side.

"It wasn't just me, Auntie Paula and Uncle Lenny bought treats for them too you know!" Monica responded with a huff.

Although, she couldn't really blame Johnny and Roshni for being over-excited. Growing up in a city for most of their life, they barely got to have many experiences like this one outdoors. And their Grand-dad Bomi and Granny Jer were very much city dwellers, like their son.

"Freddie would probably choose to stay at home right now if he came with us, being the dainty house cat that he is" Monica revelled at the thought.

Needless to say that this trip was a breath of fresh air for her and her children.

But Patsy had to creep up and ruin it for her when they had a moment alone together:

"So," she inaudibly began, "All okay in London?"

Monica's feet kicked stones on the track with the hiking boots that she was loaned as she walked on, and reluctantly answered, "Whatever 'okay' is"

"Alright then, anything not okay?" her mother pressed.

"If I answered that then we'd probably be here all night, mammy" Monica numbly answered.

"I'm not just talking about your miscarriage, Mo" Patsy continued, awkward but still serious.

"Then what are you talking about?"

"When Paula went looking for the toilet earlier, she pulled me aside and had a word with me, you know."

"Oh? Did she come out to you too?" Monica murmured, thinking, "Funny that, why would she tell my mam of all people?! I thought she wanted to keep it a secret"

"Yes, it surprised me coming from her," Patsy's tone became concerned, "But I suppose it explains why you looked so happy this morning!"

"I know, I never would've guessed it either!" Monica chuffed.

"What's so funny?!" her mother went on, growing serious, "Alcohol abuse is no laughing matter!"

"Wait, Alcohol abuse?" she thought aloud in confusion, and stopped walking.

"What else could it be?" Patsy went off, "Paula told me that she saw how much you were drinking in front of the weans this afternoon!"

"Oh... so Paula didn't tell my mother that she's gay after all, she was just looking out for me." Monica silently realised, watching her father and brother huddled together off the track as they stopped to look at instructions acquired from his Nat Geo magazine from this morning. Meanwhile Johnny and Roshni's laughter echoed nearby as they played and whizzed up and down the sand dune in the dark-

"Mo, are you even listening to me?!" Patsy snapped.

"Right, sorry mam," she sighed, and casually, "Maybe I do enjoy some drinking every now and then, but-"

"Listen to me, if you're drinking like that every day while you're living in London then what if you don't even realise that you have a problem?!" her mother rattled on worriedly.

"I left all my problems back in London-"

"Well, that doesn't help!"

"And I soberly and safely drove Johnny and Roshni across the English and Irish countryside, didn't I?" Monica defended, "Anyway, we better catch up with the others."

She kept on walking, noticing the light of Lenny's torch about fifty yards ahead. But what Patsy said next made her halt again:

"You broke my heart that day when you rang home and told us that you weren't coming back from London, you know."

Monica turned back around, but she dared not interrupt her mother this time.

"And months later, when you announced that you were pregnant with them two, I was watching you throw away everything that you worked hard for in school," Patsy recollected, "It almost felt like that man who turned my little Mo into a woman had also killed her in some way"

Monica found her mother's honest words to be strangely reminiscent of what Laurence Olivier had told her at Dave Clarke's party only a few weeks before:

"Don't let that man destroy you, otherwise you will destroy yourself"

She held her tongue, "I can't tell mam about that night. Mothers always worry too much, and she'd definitely worry about me even more."

Monica didn't want to have that conversation. Besides,  the row that she had with Freddie put them both back on the same page before she left for Ireland, and she wasn't ready to be told that she was an alcoholic either. So what if a glass or two put her at ease?

So, she tried being optimistic for her mum's sake, "But I'm finally starting university in September just like you wanted me to all those years ago, all being well of course. That's still something hopeful, isn't it?"

Saddened, Patsy looked away, for she realised that no amount of talking could convince her daughter otherwise.

She was about to open her mouth and speak from her heart when a small voice screamed:

"Look! There it is, I can see it!"

Roshni was standing nearby and pointing northeast towards the sky, her arm raised about 45 degrees upwards. The Brannigans all stopped to watch as a faint cumulous cloud moved out of the way, revealing bright white dot with a smear behind it.

"That's it, Halley's comet!" Lenny confirmed, "Well spotted, Roshni!"

Everybody there gasped and cooed in wonder at such an ethereal sight, all except for Patsy.

There was a crack in her voice as she lowly concluded, putting her hand on her daughter's shoulder so that she caught her attention, "I know I haven't been very kind to you about leaving home and having children so young, Mo... But I'd rather you came back home to your dad and I than let us watch you spiral downwards"

Stunned, Monica watched her solemn-faced mother walk past her and re-joining her father and brother up ahead, wondering what all the fuss was all about over what she thought was a harmless gin and tonic.

But for her children's sake she was glad to revert the topic back onto the bright and beautiful display that was dashed across the heavens. After all, she was never going to see it again.

They all climbed to the top of the biggest, tallest sand dune on the beach to get a better look, even though the comet was so high in the sky that it wouldn't make much difference.

"Take that in and remember it, you two," Monica reminded the twins, "This will probably be the first and last time you will ever get to see a comet of its kind."

"Not until sometime in the 21st Century" Lenny added, letting them both use his binoculars to look at it more closely.

"I was expecting it to look a lot bigger" Johnny said disappointedly after he'd had his turn.

Monica giggled, "It if was a lot bigger then it'd probably be killing us all, sweetheart"

"Do you wanna see?" Lenny held his beinoculars up to her face.

"Yes please" she peered into the eye piece.

Now that Monica could see the comet in a little more detail, she noticed hues of green, blue, pink and purple within the dazzling tail.

"My my, that is gorgeous..." she thought aloud.

"They say that comets are like cats" she heard her father telling them both as she continued to gaze at it.

"Why's that? Because they both begin with C and end with a T?" Roshni asked.

"Good guess, but no," her grandfather chuckled, "It's because they have tails and they come and go"

"Just like our Mo does here, she's a comet," her mother spoke for the first time since she and her talked, this time rather torpidly, "A comet that'll burn out if she's not careful..."

Monica scoffed, rolling her eyes slightly as she handed her brother his binoculars. 

Although oblivious to the conversation that mother and daughter had only a few minutes ago, Lenny advised her, "Mam's right. University can be a lot to take in, especially if you aren't coming straight from high school like you will be"

Meanwhile her father agreed with their statements, "Aye Mo, go easy on yourself once university starts, eh?"

"But not too easy, you'll have lots of work to do" Lenny added with a wink.

Monica half-heartedly jibed, "Are you all trying to make me change my mind or what?"

The Brannigans didn't answer.

All fell awkwardly silent, all except for the Atlantic waves in the distance and the Motorola in the pocket of Monica's puffer jacket that began to ring a few seconds later.

"Don't tell me you brought that thing to the beach!" Patsy exclaimed.

"The sand dune must be acting as a pivotal point for signal" Lenny told them, for it was a marvel that Monica was even able to get reception in the first place.

"Surely fishermen would need the radio signal to use one of those gadgets out at sea as well, eh?" her father suggested.

Monica hastily shushed everyone, before turning her back to them and bringing it up to her ear to answer, "Hello? Who is this?"

She was half-expecting it to be Paula or perhaps Phoebe checking up on her, but it wasn't.

"It's me, darling"

That velvety, British-accented voice.

"Freddie?" she almost whispered.

Her heart began to race, for she hadn't spoken to him directly in over 48 hours.

"Well," he asked, "How are you all doing?"

The cheerfulness in his tone sounded rather forced, but Monica chose not to comment and complied.

"I'm fine," she answered once she regained composure, looking around in the dark as she walked further away, "Johnny and Roshni, they're about somewhere, but they love it here"

"They do?" she heard his voice deflate ever so slightly.

"Yes, I think they liked the school too!" she put her hand over her ear, "I'm sure they both can't wait to tell you about Ireland some time when they're not scampering about like rascals"

"What did you do with them today?" Freddie continued keenly.

"Well, Paula and Max dropped by in the morning," she replied, careful not to give too much away, "and then we went to a seaside town called Portrush in the afternoon"

"Portrush? What's that like?"

"Like Northern Ireland's very own Brighton... or Blackpool, only smaller and no illuminations unfortunately," Monica rambled on, "Anyway, sorry if you can't hear me very well, we're on a nearby beach looking at that comet that's been in the news actually."

"So are we!" Freddie exclaimed on the other end.

"Really?" Monica frowned, thinking, "That's not like him."

"The four of us are in one of the city parks looking at it more closely through Brian's state-of-the-art telescope," He blathered on, "The boys thought it'd be good to take a break from the studio"

"Oh lucky, all we have are Len's binoculars. He insisted that we go look at it"

"Do you see it right now, with your own eyes?"

"Yes, clouds are staring to gather again but I can still see it" Monica observed, gazing into the sky as the puffs floated by again, obstructing the comet.

"...It's beautiful, isn't it?" he murmured.

There was a silence between them for a few moments.

It was funny for her to think that they were both in different parts of the world, yet they were looking at the exact same thing at the same second...

The English Park, Munich, Germany

"Yes, it is..." she hesitantly answered on the other end of the receiver.

Freddie smiled to himself as he held it close to his ear, staring at the comet faintly through the faded transparent plastic of the pay-phone booth that he was standing in.

Brian, John, Roger, Phoebe, and the rest of the entourage were looking at it a dozen feet away from the booth, using Brian's telescope for a better peek amidst the light pollution and the city smog.

Monica continued, "I bet it offers a lot of musical inspiration too. Speaking of which, is work going well?"

"Not really to be honest... and yes, yes, but enough of that. I just wanted to ring to say that the comet is very beautiful," Freddie quickly admissioned as his feet grew cold, "And that I'm glad you're all having a wonderful time and... and I wish we were all looking at it together right now"

"Me too, Fred," he heard her sweet, soft voice agree with him earnestly, "But at least we can share the moment over the phone this way, right?"

But oh, how perfect and wonderful it would've been to share it with Monica back in 1977 or 1978, back when she kept her brown hair longer, as did he himself with a clean-shaven face. And back when didn't drink so much and had a much more innocent outlook on life. Instead of watching it from afar they would climb onto the roof of his Stafford Terrace flat to view it. His hands would be holding her close against him as she sat between his legs and hung her head back on him to gaze at the sky with her sparkling blue eyes. Although if she was pregnant with them both in her stomach, then his hands would probably be lovingly holding onto her swollen abdomen instead where there were two hearts beating inside of her.

The nostalgic vision warmed Freddie's heart in the Bavarian cold. But it hurt him knowing that he was never ever going to have something like that again, and if Monica was going to be back in education and Johnny and Roshni were going to be away in boarding school then he didn't know if his heart could take it.

"I miss you," he wanted to say to her, "I miss you all and can't stop thinking about you. Oh my darling, my babies... 1986 was such a shitty year for us and we're not even halfway through it!"

But he couldn't bring himself to say it, and the clock was ticking as his call ran out of charge.

"Do you want to talk to Johnny and Roshni?" Monica suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

"Maybe tomorrow" He excused as Phoebe's footsteps approached, only to instantly regret it.

"Oh, alright then..." he heard her trail off, disheartened, "Anyway, have a good night. Say hello to the boys for me"

"Will do, talk again tomorrow" Freddie's voice wavered as he tried his best not to choke up on the other side.

"Okay, goodnight" she repeated.

"Goodnight darling, I-"

But before he could finish his sentence the payphone machine abruptly cut across him in German, "Bitte legen Sie mehr Bargeld ein, um Ihren Anruf fortzusetzen"

"Well, fuck anyway!" Freddie huffed, throwing the receiver down. It snagged on the cord and banged against one of the booth windows, then dangled beneath the cradle on the wall.

"Everything okay?" Phoebe cautiously asked.

"Yeah, the machine ran out of fucking change just as I was saying goodbye" he muttered, putting his hands back into the pockets of his brown leather jacket.

"I can get you more coins" his assistant offered.

"No no, I was finishing up anyway," Freddie turned his back to him, heading back to the group as he called after him, "I said I'd ring her tomorrow anyway"

Phoebe shrugged off his boss's seemingly callous approach and went to put the phone back on its cradle whilst Freddie walked back to re-join the other three members of Queen, feeling somewhat glad to at least have shared the moment with the woman he loved over the phone.

After all, neither of them knew what the future held in store once the summer was over and September began...