Part Cinquante-un

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Carrie and Carlos were stunned at the idea that Andi had had a ghost of her own, but Willie was a little bit less surprised.

"I mean, usually I only knew the ghosts that joined the Club, but I did see other ghosts out and about occasionally. Caleb was always suggesting I invite any new ones I saw to come and see the Club, in case they might want to join. Some I spoke to and did invite, but he didn't always stamp them, when I first joined it really was only the ones that agreed and wanted to be there. You were the first I brought that he was so interested in, probably because of what he thought you could give him, since being able to be seen when playing with Julie hinted at power he was desperate to control."

"Yay, how lucky for us," Alex's tone was flat and sarcastic.

Willie shrunk in his seat at the dinner table, "I'm really sorry Alex."

"What? Oh, no, that wasn't- I didn't mean-" Alex reached out to grasp Willie's hand firmly with his own. "I forgave you, I'm not mad at you. That was for Caleb," he spit the name out with venom dripping from his tone, "It's his fault, not yours."

The whole table hummed in agreement, and Willie relaxed again.

Bobby spoke up to change the subject, "So, I figure we can read the contract after dinner, then I can have my lawyer go over it tomorrow, just as a precaution, and let Andi know on Saturday. What do you guys think?

"That sounds good to me, and I'm with Julie, if there isn't anything crazy, I really want to say yes. I like Andi, she seems like a good person," Reggie looked around and was pleased to see Alex and Luke nodding along.

Ray clapped his hands once in a tiny burst of excitement and grinned, "Great! I can't believe it only took one song at Eats n' Beats, and then one actual set and you kids have done it!" He laughed for a moment and shrugged, "Actually, no, I can believe it. You're all amazing, and this is only the beginning of what I know you can do and how far you can go."

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The contract turned out to be just what was promised, Bobby even commenting about how it gave the band more creative freedom and control of their career than any he had seen before. When they spoke to Andi and went in to sign all the paperwork, she once again reiterated that for the most part she wanted to be their partner, not their boss or babysitter.

"It's one of the perks of it being my company. I have veto power before offers are extended, and artists that can handle themselves are almost the number one thing I look for. Obviously, they still need the talent, but that's pretty useless to me if they don't want to put in the work and take responsibility for themselves and their career."

Bobby, Alex, and Reggie snickered loudly at that, looking at Luke. He never had a problem working hard and taking responsibility for moving the band forward, back in the '90s or now. Luke just ducked his head and lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck as he tried to ignore the looks and the heat flooding his cheeks at the subtle teasing.

"That won't be an issue," Julie beamed at him and squeezed his other hand, the memory of his pep talk in her kitchen right after she met him coming to mind. He peeked over at her and bit his lip against a sheepish smile.

Andi hid a grin of her own, she had overheard a few of his pep talks to the other boys at her mom's book club, and also his plan for them to be legends. "Anyway, I am so happy to welcome you all to the Destiny Records family!" she stood from her desk and came around to shake their hands. Reggie was last and surprised her with a hug instead. She patted his back, smiling and unable to resist the infectious sunshine of his personality as he stepped back, bouncing in place and grinning at her in delight.

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It was now getting close to the end of January, and they had started to make plans for recording, but actual scheduling had been pushed off until Julie would be out of school for the summer. Instead they were writing and practicing, and Andi had scheduled them some gigs in clubs around the area, a few over the next few months until summer break.

Reggie arrived home from his mid-morning photography class, going right over to the Molina's. They had withdrawn Luke from his college class, but Reggie had decided to stick with his 'Intro to Photography', and he was really enjoying it. It had only been a few classes so far (Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:00 to 11:45am), but he went and chatted with Ray after each of them.

The boys had fallen into a system of sharing one-on-one time with Ray, Luke and Reggie spending the most time alone with him. Luke tended to hang out with him some afternoons and evenings, sometimes with Julie, or on his own when she was busy with homework. All the boys spent time with Carlos, too, but he had different after school activities and he still went to his friends' houses, so it mostly depended on him.

Bobby had taken to stopping by for lunch with Ray occasionally as well, sometimes the boys would join and sometimes not. He and Ray had found that, as much as they loved the boys, it was nice to have some time to talk to another adult about things, and for Ray to talk a little about Rose since Bobby had known her too.

Ray had taken Reggie along to a photo shoot or two, and they would talk about cameras and cooking when they hung out. Ray had gotten much more interested in recipes and food than he ever had been before. Luke and he would talk about everything, and they were now fully obsessed with 'The Voice', having binged the whole first season together over a few days, they were now working through the second season. Luke was obviously spoiler free, having been dead, and Ray hadn't paid much attention when it was on. Almost every night before bed, they would watch an episode or two together.

But today was a Reggie day (a Monday), and he was excited to gush to Ray about the new things they had gone over in his class, about composition and how to frame subjects in their photos. He found Ray sitting at the table and staring into space, with a cup of coffee in front of him.

"Hi Dad! Guess what we talked about in class today?" Reggie bounded over and slipped into the seat across from him, looking at him expectantly.

"Uh, um," Ray blinked and his eyes refocused, "Reggie, hi."

The bassist's excitement fell away as he took a harder look at the man in front of him, "Is something bothering you?"

Ray sighed and went to take a sip of coffee pulling back immediately and grimacing, "Yuck, cold." He jerked his head up and tilted it, "Wait, are you already done with class? It's only 11, isn't it?"

"No," Reggie shook his head slowly in concern, "I just finished class and came over, it's a little after noon, Dad."

"Huh."

"Are you okay?"

Another sigh and Ray stood to dump out his coffee and pour a new cup, "I suppose it's better to mention it now."

"What? Dad- Ray? You're kinda freaking me out," Reggie pulled the cuffs of his flannel over his hands as he started to fidget nervously.

"Oh, Reg, no! It's not about you, or the guys or anything," he abandoned his coffee cup and came over to pull Reggie up from his chair into a hug, which was readily returned.

"It's just- well, the anniversary is coming up," Ray's voice dropped to a pained and choked whisper, "It will be a year since we lost Rose."

"Oh, Dad!" Reggie hugged him tighter, "What day? How can we be there for you guys? What can we do to support you?"

"I don't know, I don't really know how to do this. Julie basically stopped singing when her mom was diagnosed and started treatment, only singing for Rose a tiny bit, no one else. When she finally sang again it had been almost a year since Carlos and I had really heard her, anyone had heard her, and... I can't do that again. What if she slides back?"

Reggie gave him a reassuring squeeze within the hug, his voice matter-of-fact, "Not gonna happen. Not with us around. Not with Luke around."

Ray blew out a deep breath and pulled back, "Thank you Reggie. I really needed to hear that."

"So... when is the day?" Reggie asked softly.

"The 23rd, so this weekend. Thankfully it's a Saturday, although I may let Julie and Carlos stay home from school on Friday just because I don't know how much they'll be able to pay attention in class, or how emotional it's really going to be."

"Okay, we can always hang around, or we can leave you guys alone? Well, probably not Luke..."

The older man gave a snort and a short chuckle at that, "There's nothing that would keep Luke from being there for Julie, unless she specifically asked him for space. And the chances of that are about the same as him never wearing a sleeveless shirt ever again."

Reggie definitely couldn't help but laugh at that too, shaking his head and surveying Ray, "Are you a little better now?"

"Yeah, yeah Reggie. I am better. Thanks to you, mijo," he hugged him again quickly and turned to get his coffee cup, "So, what were you saying about your class today?"

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Ray had asked Reggie to mention the anniversary to Alex and Willie, just to give them a heads up. He wasn't sure how well he was going to hold up, and he gave a anguished mental thanks to Rose that the boys were there. He knew if things got difficult for him, Reggie and the others would step in and help be there for Carlos and Julie.

Reggie headed home for a mid-afternoon nap around 2:30, he had decided he liked them on days he had class. When Luke came in from the studio with Fender, Ray waved him over to sit with him at the table, right where Reggie had previously been.

"Hey, Ray," Luke beamed at him as he sat down, laying a leather-bound dark blue journal carefully to the side on the table. Fender trotted over to nudge Ray's leg and ask for petting, which he obviously received.

"Hi Luke, new song?" Ray asked, nodding towards the journal.

"Uh, yeah, I- yeah," Luke's right hand was up rubbing the back of his neck and his left went to cover the journal protectively.

Ray raised an eyebrow, curious at the reaction, and his eyes fell on the journal again, "Wait, is that...?"

Luke flushed and looked down.

"It is! That's your Julie journal!" he leaned in, "Has she even seen it?"

"I- no, no she hasn't," Luke's eyes were soft as he stared down at the notebook, fingers now tracing lightly over the cover. "Since I have so much free time when she's at school, I can write anything and everything down when it comes to me. She makes me a better writer for our songs, but I can't help all the lyrics and melodies that are always filling my head that I have to get out."

"Are there some finished songs in there? Do you think you'll ever do anything with them?"

The guitarist shrugged, "They don't fit our sound, so I don't know if they'll ever make it further than being written down in here, but..." he shrugged again, "Who knows?"

"Well, you better go get that back to it's hiding spot, Julie will be home from school in about an hour. And, I kinda want to talk to you about this weekend," he gave Luke a serious look.

"I'll put it away and be right back," with a solemn nod Luke stood up, disappearing up the stairs for a few short minutes before reappearing and slipping back into his seat, "Now, what's the plan for this weekend?"

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The days leading up to the anniversary weekend were surprisingly not too awful. Ray was very pleased to see that although Julie was quiet, she was not as subdued as he expected. Reggie, Alex, and Willie were good at distracting Carlos, and he even sought Luke out at one point.

It was when Julie went to the mall after school on Thursday with Flynn and Carrie, they wanted to go to the same salon as before Christmas, get pampered a little and just spend some girl time with Julie before the difficult weekend. This left Luke at home, tinkering with his guitar part for a new song he and Julie were working on.

"Luke?" Carlos lingered in the doorway of the studio, hesitant.

Looking up from his guitar, Luke smiled at the younger boy, "Hey little buddy. Come on in, what's up?"

Carlos bit his lip and took a couple steps forward, "Are- are you busy?"

Luke furrowed his brow at the uncertainty in his voice and he set his guitar in the stand, standing up to catch Carlos's hand and pull him over to the couch to sit down, "Hey. I am never too busy if you need something. What's on your mind?"

"I just... I miss my mom," the younger boy's brown eyes filled with tears that he tried to blink away.

"Oh, Carlos. It's okay to cry, buddy," Luke couldn't say he hadn't expected this when he saw the boy in the doorway, but he hadn't expected the way his heart would crack open seeing his tears. He reached out and wrapped his arms around Carlos, tugging him into his lap and pressing his head into his shoulder, the little boy's arms grasping around Luke's middle as he let go and shook with sobs.

"I got you little buddy," Luke sighed, wishing he could do something to ease the grief of this family that had made him and the boys so welcome and safe. He started humming and then softly singing, hoping it would be comforting to the boy he now considered his little brother.

Nobody knows how to say goodbye
It seems so easy 'til you try
Then the moments passed you by
Nobody knows how to say goodbye

Nobody knows how to get back home
And we set out so long ago
Search the heavens and the Earth below
Nobody knows how to get back home

Through the darkness to the dawn
And when I looked back you were gone
Heard your voice leading me on
Through the darkness to the dawn

Love is deep as the road is long
And moves my feet to carry on
It beats my heart when you are gone
Love is deep as the road is long

Nobody knows how the story ends
Live the day, doing what you can
This is only where it began
Nobody knows how the story ends
Nobody knows how the story ends

By the time he finished Carlos had cried himself to sleep, so Luke maneuvered a bit and picked him up, planning to take him inside and up the stairs to his bed.

Ray looked up from where he was finishing some work at the table, his eyes widening a bit, and whispering when Luke put a quick finger to his lips. "Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine, think he just needed a good cry, I'm going to put him in bed and sit with him. Will you call us when dinner is ready?"

"Yeah, of course," a beat, "Hey Luke? Thank you."

Luke had paused at the stairs, glancing back he just nodded and adjusted his grip slightly before carrying Carlos up to his room.

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When Julie came home and went to look for Luke, she found him in Carlos's room, curled up around her little brother. There were tiny traces of tear tracks on Carlos's now peaceful face, and Luke looked like he was trying to shield him from the world, the same way he tended to hold her. It was one of the most heart-melting things she had ever seen.

"Julie?" Ray walked up behind her and let out a quiet gasp as he looked over her head into the room, "Oh, it's even cuter than when he was carrying him up the stairs."

"He- what?" Julie turned her head to him and then back to the boys.

"I think Carlos went to him out in the studio, he was asleep when Luke carried him back in. Luke said he thought he just 'needed a good cry' and he was 'going to put him in bed and sit with him.' He obviously fell asleep too."

"Ohhh," Julie put a hand over her heart, looking at the bed and smiling with pure love and affection.

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A/N: Song: 'Nobody Knows' - The Lumineers

I did get the job/promotion, so I've been starting some training. :)

I decided to not try to force myself to write during the week if I wasn't feeling it, but I actually wrote a bunch. Just... none of it is the next part exactly? I have three big sections of story, but they don't fit until after the anniversary, so *shrug*. At least they are pretty ready to go when I do get there?

I do have a little written for the next chapter, so we'll see how fast I get the rest of that done!