The bus came to a stop and my eyes flew open like window shutters. I didn't even know I fell asleep. The only thing I remember was sitting down in my seat and putting my headphones in. I had 112 on blast as I watched the night sky pass me by while Joey laid himself in my lap while he slept. I guess before long I soothed myself to sleep during the bus ride for last leg of the trip. I let out a deep and breathy yawn as I stretched my arms and legs out as wide as possible.

  "Come On y'all! Let's get a move on!" I heard uncle Morris shout from the other side of my window as he tapped the glass with a cheesy smile.

I smiled at waved back at him and signaled to him that I'll be right there.

  "JoeBoy come on we gotta-" I stopped suddenly.

Joey was already wide awake and off the bus standing next to Uncle Dre and Uncle Morris. He had his little dinosaur bag on his back and was still in his bright blue pajamas with his red converse sneakers on but untied. I went to grab my bag from under my seat when his stuffed Roger Rabbit fell out of my lap and on to the floor. I small laugh left me as I reached down to pick him up and pick up my bag.

  "He's gonna be crushed if you go missing kid." I said with a grin to the lifeless toy.

Stuffing it in my jacket pocket I threw my book bag on and headed off the bus. The sun slapped me in my face once again and I couldn't get my vision to cooperate for at least a few minutes.

  "Carly! Hurry up we got but a few hours before the last show!" I heard Tony call to me from the back of the bus.

I was able to squint the sun away to find him and get to him quickly. As he pulled the last piece of sound equipment from the bottom he closed the side door and told the stage crew where to get things for the last show.

  "How'd you sleep kitten?" Tony joked as he patted me on the back.

  "Exactly like that. A kitten." I said with a smile.

Tony was stunned that I was treating him nicer than usual he scrunched up his nose and tilted his head to the side a little. He raised his finger to his lip still trying to understand what had just happened.

"Don't get the wrong idea big boy. I still think you are the biggest pest on planet. Then again you look like a planet but I say it with the most love that's deep......and I mean DEEP..... down in my soul." I joked.

When his smile dropped when I came for his size the old Tony came back instantly.

"Thanks Carly tell me how you really feel." He said with sarcasm oozing from his words.

"Hey. Anything for family." I replied with the same sarcastic tone to match his.

I slapped him hard in his back three or four times before demanding him to get back to work before I fired him then bolted for the venue doors. I loved leaving Tony in confusion. I bet he thought that there were a few screws missing but I didn't care. I can't be too nice to him or he'll think know that I treat him like crap because I actually have a soft spot for him. I made my way back to the dressing room only to find to my surprise the door was.....

"Locked???? Daddy never locks his dressing room door! What the hell is going on?!?!?" I said aloud before quickly covering my mouth realizing I let one slip.

"I hope he didn't hear that." I whispered to myself in embarrassment.

"He didn't but I did!" I heard a young girl's voice say loudly from behind me.

It startled me so badly that I screamed and almost roundhouse kicked whoever it was behind me.

"Whoa! Do you always wanna karate chop your victims when they freak you out?" The girl said to me with a roar of laughter.

"No but next time you might wanna give someone a damn heads up before creeping up on them! What are you 12?!?!?" I snapped.

The girl continued in her laughing fit as she came closer to me so that way she was nose to nose. For a second I thought she was gonna deck me the way she snatched the key from her front pocket of her jeans.

"Thanks for the tip squirt!" She said before shoving me out of the way.

"Hey! Who you pushing! This is my dads tour and I don't think he would like to hear that your pushing his kid around!" I scolded after running up on her.

She didn't say anything. She just popped the key in the door knob then did a quick spin on her heels to face me.

"Well good! Then you can tell your dad that we're here and we'll see him after the show!"

The anger washed away from my face as she slammed the door and locked it behind her. It didn't hit me until I remembered who she was. The girl from Tony's picture. That's-

"Wait!" I shouted running up to the door and knocking as hard as I could.

"Who are you? I can't tell him who we is if I don't know what name to give him!"

She never answered. She never even bothered to come to the door. I backed away slowly and sucked my teeth.

"Rude." I hissed under my breath as I looked at the door.

I picked up my bag from the floor that I have dropped earlier on from when I tried to get inside and was about to walk away when I heard the lock click and the door slowly open. I stopped and waited but didn't turn around. After a few seconds I didn't hear anything more so I decided to take a step. Just as I was about to lift my left foot from the floor I heard

"Hey."

I slowly turned my head over my shoulder as my response and the door came open fully. The girl came out and stood in the hall behind me with a sad look on her face.

"I'm sorry for being so mean. I'm not 12. I'm 14. The only reason why I pushed you out of the way is because.....I know all about you. I know all about your brother Joey too. You probably know about me and my sister. Right?" She asked.

I sighed and turned around and once again tossed my book bag to the floor to approach her.

"I know enough. You're Tony's oldest girl. He showed me the picture on the bus last night before we got here. What I don't get is how do you know about me and my brother?"

"He talks about you guys all the time. Actually more times than I wanna hear. When I saw you I just got jealous all over again because you get my dad all the time. We only get him once....maybe twice a year?"

I can feel her pain. The same pain I felt from Tony when he said how much he missed his daughters.

"I know. He misses you guys too. It sucks that Daddy pulled him away from you guys this summer because of me and my brother. My dad knew better.

"Of course I know better! That's why his family is here!" I heard my dads voice say as he appeared out of nowhere as always scaring the living daylights out of me and Tony's daughter.

"Can you at least announce yourself dude?!?!?" She screamed.

"Yeah dad what gives?!?!?" I followed.

My dad just laughed and came closer to the both of us.

"I swear you two are a mirror image of one another! Which is exactly why Tony put up with you so much Carlyn. You and Serena are alike in more ways than one." Daddy said.

"Does my dad know we're here?" Serena asked.

"No because it's supposed to be a surprise. He should be down any minute so you might want to get in the dressing room before we blow it." Daddy said.

Serena smiled and ran inside the room and shut the door locking it behind her once again just as Tony had rounded the corner.

"Hey boss! I just got the word from Andre that you wanted to see me and that it was important. What's going on?" He asked with a nervous grin.

"Tony! You're sleeping on the job again! You locked me out of my dressing room and now I have to lose 10 minutes of my time all because you wanna mess around! For that I'm docking your pay. Two hours lost!" My dad scolded.

Tony had a really disappointing and heart broken look on his face. He knew there was no room for any excuses. He just fumbled the keys from his belt and unlocked the door. As he had his back to us me and Daddy smiled from ear to ear because he was unaware of who was just on the other side of the door.

"I swore I left it unlocked boss. I've never locked a door since I've worked for you. This will never happen again." Tony said as the lock clicked and he flung the door open.

He had to do a double take inside because he thought he was dreaming.

He began to back away as his wife And his two girls came out in to the hall to meet him. Me and Daddy smiled even bigger to see how happy he was to finally have his family standing right in front of him.

"My babies!" He said as his voice cracked from fighting back happy tears.

"You little rat!" I said to my dad as I nudged him in the side.

"You didn't think I was gonna leave my boy hanging for his birthday did you?" He said to me with a wink.

Daddy put his arms around me giving me a hug as we watched Tony kiss his wife and kids repeatedly. His youngest daughter hugged him around his neck and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Happy birthday Daddy!" The little one said.

Tony was never so elated. I guess it's true that anything can happen when you go on tour. I'm glad I didn't stay home after all! This was definitely the best summer vacation ever and I can say that my summer report has already written itself.

Thanks for taking the tour

💜Nelson Family out!💜