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They could hear the crowds clapping their hands and stamping to the beat of the song Brianna had come up with while helping their son taking his first steps. The time for the show to begin was drawing near.
Inside a room given to them, with enough space for a cot and a playpen, Roger and Brianna were getting ready for their first show in New York since the birth of their first child.
While combing his blonde locks, Roger’s eyes were on the mirror, but not on himself, but rather on Brianna, who was comfortably sitting on a rocking chair – another thing they had asked for when they agreed on touring now they were a family of three – with their baby in her arms.
She was concentrated on her son, who was hungrily sucking on her nipple, unaware, it seemed, to the noise coming from the stadium. His little hands were tight fists, his fingers curled around one of Roger’s drumsticks.
“I think he’s going to be a drummer,” Brianna whispered, as she noticed Jimmy had finally fallen asleep. She looked up and met Roger’s loving eyes on her. “can you put him on his cot?”
With the same care he had the first time he held him in his arms, Roger took his son and kissed his blonde locks before placing him inside the traveling cot which was going to be Jimmy’s for the rest of the tour.
The sound coming from the crowds increased. Baby Jimmy didn’t even move, being a heavy sleeper – which his parents were eternally grateful for.
“What do you think?” Brianna said, as she turned, sporting a silky grey shirt with sequins and a black best. She was also wearing a pair of tight dark trousers and her curls were beautifully adorning her face.
The drummer kissed her deeply while unbuttoning the first three buttons of her shirt. “Now you’re ready.”
“Isn’t it too much?”
“‘course not,” Roger kissed her neck.
“Rog, not now,” she said, freeing herself from his arms, and turning to the mirror. “I’m a mum now.”
“A rockstar mum, not a nun.”
Brianna didn’t smile. “They’ll talk.”
“They always talk.”
The nanny they had hired back in England knocked on the door. Roger opened the door and let her in. “He’s asleep. We’ll back after midnight.”
Brianna picked up her Red Special and kissed Jimmy’s forehead one last time. “We’ll be right back.” The guitarist turned to the nanny. “If anything happens, let Miami know. Anything –”
“He’s going to be alright, Bri.”
“Don’t worry, Miss.” The nanny assured her as she sat next to the cot and opened the bag she was given and instructed to keep with all the things necessary to look after Jimmy while his parents were on tour.
“Anything, okay?”
The nanny assured them both everything was going to be okay and that she had three bottles ready, nappies, and enough toys to keep Jimmy safe until they were back after the show.
Taking Roger’s hand, Brianna made her way backstage, were Freddie and John were warming up. Her parents were also there – being this their first time in New York and their first time watching one of their shows since their daughter had told them she was in a relationship with Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor.
“Look at you,” her father said, hugging her and taking her Red Special into his arms. “Now I understand.”
Roger watched the exchange between father and daughter in silence, but his blue eyes were on Brianna’s face, how she smiled when her father told them how much people were waiting for her. He knew Harold May had never understood why her daughter was leaving her career as a scientist to play rock in a band.
And now he did.
“You okay, son?”
Roger nodded. “Yes, mum.”
Ever since joining the family, Roger was asked by both the Mays to call them ‘mum’ and ‘dad’. In Harold, Roger found the father he never had. Harold was a very sweet man, caring, always calling and asking if they were okay, if they needed help looking after Jimmy. While his mother and his sister Claire had loved Brianna the minute they met her, they were not as close as the Mays were.
Paul offered himself to take the Mays to the special place where they would be able to see the show. “We have some people outside the nanny’s room. We have also set up a stool near your place and there’s an ambulance outside.”
The stool and the ambulance were no longer needed – they used to have everything ready when she was pregnant and still playing, but now they did it just in case and while Brianna kept on saying it was unnecessary, Roger said it was okay.
“Thanks, Paul.”
“We’re opening with your song, darling,” Freddie patted her back. “the crowds are crazy.”
“I’ve missed this.”
Freddie took her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. “We’ve missed you.”
Roger took her drumsticks, John his bass, and Brianna her Red Special.
The lead singer smiled. “Are we ready?”
Everyone nodded.
Roger’s hands held Brianna’s face as he kissed her deeply, lovingly. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
The first to make it to the stage was the drummer. Everything was dark. He sat on his stool and made them spin on the air. When he hit his toms, the lights were on only on his drum kit. He had recently changed his drum kit because he said people didn’t see him - so had someone paint his face on the drum bass.
As Roger hit his drums, the lights turned one by one on each member of the band. People started shouting their names and when the lights were on Brianna, the crowds went mad.
And as Roger hit his toms, the people clapped and stamped to the beat – to the beat Brianna had come up with while helping her son take his first steps.
Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise
Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday
You got mud on your face, you big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place, singin'
We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you
Brianna closed her eyes briefly and remember that day as if it had been yesterday.
“He’ll hurt himself.”
“No, he won’t,” Brianna said, sitting a few steps away from the coffee table Jimmy was using to get up on his feet. “Look.”
Jimmy took one step. Then another. Then another. Then he stopped and fell on his bum softly.
“C’mon, Jimmy,” Brianna encouraged him, clapping her hands to get his attention. She did. So, instead of crying, he stood up again and his little hands were soon on the edges of the table. When he reached the end of the coffee table, he stood still. “Come to mummy, Jimmy.”
And so it happened.
Brianna clapped once and Jimmy took one step. She clapped once again and he took two steps.
Brianna’s eyes were on his little feet when the idea stuck her.
“Rog!”
Coming from the kitchen, Rog stopped midway. There was Jimmy, taking his first steps, without anyone’s help, walking to Brianna, smiling.
Brianna received her son into her arms and Roger saw there were tears in her eyes.
The whole afternoon, Roger watched Brianna clapping her hands and watching Jimmy walking, each step helping growing the strength and confidence Jimmy needed to forget the coffee table and walk alone.
“Have you seen him?” Brianna sat next to him and took the cup of tea the drummer had prepared.
“Yeah.”
“The steps. I clap once and he takes two steps.”
“Yeah.”
The stopped when they heard a strong noise coming from his playpen across the room. Jimmy, somehow, had managed to throw one of his toys and make it collide against a frame on the mantelpiece.
“My big boy,” Roger cooed, taking Jimmy into his arms. “making big noise, huh?” He turned to Brianna and smiled. “You’re gonna be a big man someday, buddy.”
“Say it again.”
“What?”
“What you said.” Brianna urged him, running to get some paper and a pen. “Say it again.”
“Big boy… make big noise?”
“What else?”
“Dunno…You’re gonna be a big man someday?” Roger watched her writing on a piece of paper. “Are you writing a song?”
“I need you to play the drums.”
“Now?”
Brianna smiled. She walked to him, kissed him, and took Jimmy in her arms. “Come on. Up on the drum risers!”
Five minutes later, they were upstairs, inside the room where Roger kept his drums and Brianna her many guitars. She placed Jimmy in one corner with tons of toys to keep him busy for a few minutes.
“Right… what do I do?”
“Hit this tom,” Brianna instructed him. When he did as he was told, Brianna pointed at the other one. “Now this one.”
Roger hit his toms and waited.
“Hit this one twice.” He did it. “Hit it again twice. And then this one once.”
When Roger did it, Brianna smiled.
“Now?”
“Do it again. Just hit this tom twice and this one once.”
Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise
Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday
You got mud on your face, you big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place, singin'
We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you
“I like it,” Roger made his drumsticks spin. “How you gonna call it?”
Brianna was smiling when she watched Jimmy walking to them. She took him in her arms and kissed his blonde locks.
“What do you think, Jimmy? Shall we call it ‘We Will Rock You’?”
Their son babbled and soon Brianna announced they all had to meet at the studio as soon as possible.
Back in New York, Brianna was ready for her solo.
And when the moment came, she turned quickly and locked eyes with the drummer, with Roger, the father of her son, the love of her life.
Freddie stepped back and the lights and everyone’s attention were on her.
…
At the end of the show, Freddie was already inviting everyone to have drinks – all of them on him.
Brianna soon fell in Roger’s sweaty arms, tiredly.
“We’re going back to the hotel,” Roger whispered, watching mum Ruth and dad Harold walking with Brianna to the room where Jim was being looked after.
“Oh, come on!”
“Wife, a kid,” Roger reminded the singer.
Freddie smiled. “Of course.”
…
When they came back to the hotel, Jimmy was still sleeping, his little fingers curled around his father’s drumstick.
“He’s going to be a drummer,” Brianna whispered.
“He’s going to be a guitarist,” Roger corrected her. “and he’ll tour with us.”
“Do you think?”
“I know it.”