I remember.

When Aya was around 3 years old. Ethan and I had returned from our delayed honeymoon and we were working on our fifth album. Obstruction was at it's height and we were gathered again in the sound studio in the basement of our house, laying down arrangements.

Somehow I had been roped into a duet with a young female rap star. The tune was similar to Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and Jessie J's "Bang, Bang".

I didn't know the other girl. I hadn't even heard her music, but the record label promised it was a serious project and the tune was actually quite good.

The backing track was already recorded by studio musicians, so it would be my first thing without my guys.

"I don't know about this," I said, reading the raunchy lyrics.

"Embarrassed to be singing this?" Simon asked with a smirk to the innuendos while he smoothed his waist length hair into a ponytail after an energetic jump-around with his bass. That man would never grow up.

"The lyrics, not so much. 'I'll lick my sweat from your skin' isn't exactly the dirtiest phrase I've sung. I mean... We did Freak like Me for years. That's a lot dirtier," I shrugged.

"So? What's the hold-back?" Ethan asked, taking a seat next to me to study the lyrics.

"It's my first thing without you guys!" I sighed.

Ethan grinned and picked up his guitar. Two seconds later he was playing the r&b-funk tune. Simon chuckled and improvised something very close to the original bass.

"See... We can do it live once you've got the record and video out with the rap-girl," Oddball laughed, his dimples deepening and his brown eyes glittering.

"You gonna do the rap bit then, Odd?" I smirked.

Just the idea of our black clad, metal-head drummer rapping seemed absurd enough to have me giggling.

"With my skinny jeans on, and my phone in my pocket. Ain't no way you'll hold your cool, I'll make you drop it," Odd rapped, making a complete mess of the words intended for the rapper.

Over in the armchair, Selma started laughing. She was our personal assistant, Ethan's sister and somehow Simon had managed to put an engagement ring on her finger. If there ever was a fifth member of Obstruction, Selma was it.

"Oh ... That won't suck... Much!" Simon laughed.

"Do you know who the rapper is?" Selma asked once Oddball had stopped doing gangsta hand gestures and everybody were done laughing.

"Yeah. Justice," I nodded.

Simon's head snapped up and he spun to me with a surprised look.

"Justice?" he asked. His blue eyes glittered with mischief.

"Yeah," I confirmed and watched his face take on a sly smirk.

"Oh no you don't!" Selma commented dryly from her seat.

Her face was holding back an exasperated grin.

"But... But..." Simon stuttered.

"No! Rihanna is on your celebrity free list! If you meet her you can try your luck - and probably fail. But, we do not change your free list!" Selma giggled.

"But... Justice!" he pleaded.

"Nope. Not happening!" Selma replied dryly and returned her attention to her computer.

Simon looked at her for a moment with a thoughtful expression.

"Hypothetical question... If we break up... Would you take me back after a few weeks?" Simon asked looking clever.

There was a deep sigh as Selma set her computer to the side, stood up and walked across to Simon. She placed a hand either side of his face and looked straight at him. He was wearing his silly, flirty face.

"If you break up with me so you can try your luck with some random rap-girl... " she started.

"Hypothetically!" he said.

"....I will cut your hair off and break your favourite Fender!" Selma replied with a serious look while tugging on his long, golden hair.

"But you'd have me back?" Simon asked with a cocky grin.

Selma studied him carefully and sighed.

"You'd have to impress me!" she said, her face scarily neutral.

"How?" Simon asked.

"Be romantic. Win me over!" she said. There was a soreness to her eyes while her face tightened.

"Like... Sing to you?" he asked, looking confused.

"Dude. I think you need to do something right now! Fast!" Ethan chuckled with a thumb towards his sister.

"Yeah... Pissed off Selma is not a good idea," Oddball grinned.

"Because of Justice? You think I'm serious?" Simon asked.

"You just told me that you wanna be with someone else. Someone who is not me," Selma said.

Simon smiled at Selma's scowling face. There was a mix of annoyance and hurt in her golden brown eyes as their eyes connected. Simon's smile softened to reveal his true feelings for her.

"You want an apology?" he asked, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"No, you idiot! I want to know that you're not going to run off like some mutt in heat over some random skank!" Selma huffed.

Simon took Selma's hand and kissed her ring finger, right where her engagement ring sat. There was a softness to Selma's frown, but she still stared him down.

"I was joking. Baby, I only want you!" Simon pleaded with his charmer smile turned up to 12.

Selma frowned at him.

"Okay..." Simon said and looked straight into Selma's eyes with a smirk.

"Okay what?" She asked, still suspicious.

With a wide grin Simon lowered her hand and cleared his throat theatrically.

"You are my ice and my fire

My deepest sin

And darkest desire," Simon sang with a cheeky grin towards Selma.

"And here he goes again... Quoting Obstruction lyrics," she huffed with a smile that betrayed her true feelings behind the frown.

"What do you want me to say?" Simon asked.

"Well... Something my brother didn't write for Izzy would be a start," Selma huffed.

"How about... I write you a song? Would that convince you?" Simon asked.

I laughed out loud.

"Simon writing a song? Sorry, you're great with bass lines and arrangements but your lyrics suck!" I chuckled.

"I could write Selma a song!" Simon protested.

I chuckled and shook my head.

"How about you don't, and put your energy towards providing a home for your growing family instead? And realise that you can't go around randomly hitting on rap stars any more. Responsibilities, Simon," Selma giggled and tiptoed up to kiss Simon on the nose.

"Shuush, woman!" Simon hushed.

Selma rolled her eyes at him while Ethan and I exchanged a look to see if we both had picked up the underlying hint.

"They will find out soon. And the flat is too small for three people," Selma laughed.

"Yeah, but I wanna keep my bad-ass cred a little bit longer," Simon grumbled playfully.

"We're getting married you idiot!" Selma giggled and slapped Simon's chest as his arms wrapped around her.

The mini argument was obviously over as they smiled softly at each other.

"Okay... So time to tell them my super-sperm has been victorious?" he asked.

"Or just admit that sometimes you have a good idea," Selma giggled.

The remaining three of us looked between them with growing smiles.

"You've knocked up my sister?" Ethan accused with a wide grin.

Selma nodded at the rest of us with a smile while Simon fought back a happy laugh.

"I never thought that would happen," Oddball laughed.

"His idea," Selma chuckled as Simon tried to shake his head in mock denial.

"His idea? Simon has never wanted kids... ever," I laughed.

The sheepish look on Simon's face told me his world view had changed completely.

"Well... Looks like he's going halves with Selma on this one," Oddball chuckled.

"God help us all," Ethan teased and received a poked tongue from his sister and a flipped finger from Simon.

A few minutes later I went upstairs to the kitchen to get some food for the gang. Ayame was with my mum. With the amounts of travelling we were doing, my mum and her husband Josh loved having her over when we were home.

Selma came up the stairs a few minutes after me.

"They are ribbing Simon down there... I had to go before he begged me for rescue," She giggled.

I turned to look at my sister in law. She was looking radiant and so happy. With two steps I approached her and gave her a big hug.

"I'm so happy for you," I said.

"Yeah. Who'd have thought it?" She giggled.

"You've changed him. I never thought I'd see Simon settling down," I chuckled.

"Me either. I couldn't believe it when he suggested we have a baby," She grinned.

"I'm not that surprised. He'd do anything for you," I shrugged and returned to the food.

"Well.. I kinda was. I mean... First he proposed at your wedding, and when you went for your honeymoon and Aya was with us, he asked how soon would be too soon to ask the next question," she smiled.

"The next question?" I asked.

"Yeah. I asked what he meant. He pointed to Aya and said he wanted one, just like that. So we threw out my pills and pretty much succeeded on the first try" Selma laughed.

I raised my eyebrow at her and saw how she flattened her lips to hold back a grin.

"So how far along are you?" I asked.

"About three months," she said and smiled towards the basement stairs where we heard the guys laughing.

"I'm so in love with him, Izzy! I can't imagine sharing my life with anybody else," She finally said with a small laugh.

"He's a nightmare sometimes, but he really loves you too," I replied and caught a movement from the stairs as a happy looking Simon emerged and more or less ran over to Selma.

He picked her up and twirled her around to show he'd heard what she said. There was a cheeky grin on his face as he set her down.

"And here I was thinking you were in it for my body," He said.

Selma looked up at him with an equally cheeky grin.

"Well... It does help," she murmured and tugged him closer to her by the belt loops of his jeans.

I turned back to the sandwiches to avoid seeing the kissing but I couldn't hold back a wide smile at their happiness. I really wanted Simon to be happy and with Selma he had everything he needed. She laughed at all his stupid jokes, told him firmly when he was out of line, encouraged his silly personality and nerdy interests while openly showing him how much she loved him. And Simon was utterly devoted to her, despite his occasional impulsive moments. When she'd had her novel rejected, he had moved heaven and earth to find a publisher and even offered to pay for it to be published. When I turned around again they were stood there just looking at each other with his hand on her still flat belly and a look of absolute amazement on Simon's face. He turned to look at me.

"Can you believe it, Izzy?" He said, looking awestruck.

I smiled happily at my best friend.

"I'm really happy for you Simon!" I told him.

There was a nervous look on his face as he turned to Selma again.

"Okay... So I was gonna wait... Do the whole fancy restaurant thing, but I think I need to do this now... I spoke with Ellen the other day," He said.

Ellen was my best girl friend from childhood. She had briefly dated Simon a few years earlier and was our private accountant. All the money we made, Ellen dealt with. She made sure we invested wisely and paid our private expenses while we were on tour. The official Obstruction budget was handled by the record label. Ellen handled our personal accounts.

With Selma and Ellen and a bottle of wine, I could feel like a normal person. They were there to knock me down if stardom went to my head and our girlie movie and nail-painting sessions were part of my normality. Somehow, the family enclosing me had grown from just being me and my mum just a few years earlier, to a large crowd of people. I had grown up with Simon, Ellen was my school friend and when I married Ethan, I gained his four siblings and parents. And then there was Oddball, who through being Ethan's best friend had become a natural brother as well. I loved them all. And with Simon marrying Selma, our family would get even closer.

"Okay?" Selma said, looking suspicious.

"And... You know that house with the glass patio doors to the garden directly from the kitchen? The one with the apple tree and swing set? The one we went back to twice, just so you could look at the view from the study," he asked.

Selma tilted her head and nodded.

"That's the house you wanted, right?" He asked.

Selma nodded, still looking suspicious.

There was a smirk on Simon's face as he pulled something out of his pocket and held in his fist in front of Selma. Slowly he turned his hand over and opened it to reveal a set of house keys.

His smile widened as he saw the surprise on her face.

"I kinda bought it..." Simon said.

Selma stared at him for a few seconds, looking speechless.

"The yellow house? The house with the marble kitchen and wood floors?" she asked breathlessly.

Simon nodded.

"It's yours, Baby!" he smiled at her.

"But?" Selma started.

"But nothing! It's got room for my geeky music stuff without disturbing your writing with all my noise. And it has plenty of space for mini-Simon!" Simon said and kissed the tip of her nose.

"I don't quite know if you are crazy or annoying or amazing!" Selma sighed and put her arms around his waist.

"Just say you love me and we're even," Simon grinned.

Selma shook her head at him in exasperation as I lifted the tray of sandwiches and carried it downstairs.

"Of course I love you," I heard her tell him.

Later that evening I was brushing my hair out before bed while Ethan was brushing his teeth next to me.

He rinsed and looked at me in the mirror with a wide smile.

"You think we should have told them?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"Today was their moment," I said.

"Still pretty cool tho," He smiled.

"Yeah. Our little one will have a cousin," I replied as Ethan lifted my shirt and placed a hand on my belly.

"And Aya will have a sibling," Ethan said.

We looked at each other with matching smiles.

"You would have thought one of them would notice that you didn't drink coffee," Ethan smiled.

"It will just have to be our little secret for a little while longer," I smiled back and received a tender kiss.

I kissed him back feeling the world fall away and completely in his power until he picked me up and carried me to our bed. Carefully he laid me down before laying next to me where he propped himself up on an elbow and stayed staring at me.

"What?" I asked once the staring became unnerving.

"Just trying to work out how the hell I ended up with such a gorgeous wife," he grinned making me giggle self consciously before I gave him a disbelieving look.

"I'm serious, Izzy! We've been together for a few years, we have one kid and another on the way. We got married and that's normally where the fairytale ends. But, I look at you and I still get these crazy butterflies," he said and stroked a finger across my cheek.

I sighed and felt my own butterflies come to life. My hand lifted to his face as well and almost forgot to breathe as his eyes met mine.

"I'm so in love with you," I said, not knowing what else to say.

"Good. 'Cos you're kinda stuck with me," He chuckled and clicked our wedding rings together with an audible noise.

"I wouldn't want to be stuck with anybody else," I replied and pulled him to me for another one of those kisses that felt never ending, with my hands in his hair and feeling his breath in sighs to match mine.

* What did you think?

Will Simon ever grow up?

And how about Izzy and Ethan's little secret?

Please vote and comment! I'd love to know your thoughts!

Teaser: The next chapter is back to the present. The gathering at Simon's house. What do you think he wants to tell them?

And what about Izzy and Ethan? Fix or break?

Don't forget to hit the little star. Thank you!*