The Morning After or Studio: Day Two
Tegan and Sara wake up happy and ready to record
As Tegan smiled at the sleeping form of Sara, she heard a faint knock on the door. She placed a quick kiss on Sara's forehead before quickly putting on an oversized t shirt and answering the door.
"Good Morning." She greeted Ted as she walked into the hallway, closing the door behind her.
"Good Morning." Ted smiled slyly, "It's already seven, and I was thinking we should shoot for around eight."
"Sounds good." She sleepily answered, "Did you sleep well?"
"I started to, and then I heard you either killing Sara or something a little more…" He paused watching Tegan blush, "Pleasurable." He finished with a smirk.
"Oh God," Tegan couldn't look at him, "You heard that?"
"She wasn't exactly quiet." He chuckled again punching Tegan lightly on the shoulder, "Don't worry about it Teeg. I'm happy for you. No go get Sara up so you guys can get ready. There's free breakfast downstairs. Bacon, pancakes, sausage…you name it."
"I'll get Sara." She smiled at Ted, thinking about how wonderful the food sounded, "And thanks, for being happy for me."
"She's really good for you Tegan, of course I'm happy about that." He flashed her a sincere smile and walked off, "I'll be downstairs, I'll save you guys a place to eat."
"Thanks Ted." She called after him before slowly re-entering her room.
She walked back over to the bed. Sara was still sleeping like an angel, a small smile etched across her face. Tegan brushed a few loose hairs behind Sara's ear. Sara's smile widened in her sleep. Tegan looked at her lovingly, not wanting to wake her up. But at the same time knowing she had to. She decided that the best way was with a kiss. She leaned across the bed and planted a sweet kiss on Sara's lips. Sara's smile got even bigger and she opened her eyes.
"Good morning bella." She grinned sleepily as she looked over at Tegan.
"Hello angel." Tegan rubbed her thumb along Sara's jaw, "I'm going to take a shower. Ted said there is breakfast and he's saving us a place downstairs."
"Okay." Sara mumbled and sat up, stretching, "I'll get dressed, then I'll just wait here for you to get ready."
"Okay." Tegan smiled and leaned in for another kiss before grabbing her clothes and heading into the small hotel bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and was shocked. She had never seen herself look that happy. Never once growing up had she seen any happiness in her reflection, at least not in her eyes; but now it was different, her eyes were smiling even though she wasn't. It was a complete reverse of how she used to be. So Ted was right, Sara was good for Tegan. She smiled at her reflection and hopped in the shower.
After putting on a pair of skinny jeans and a Smashing Pumpkins t shirt she walked out of the bathroom. Sara was sitting on the end of the bed, eyes half closed, wearing a cute striped shirt and skinny jeans, almost the exact shade as Tegan's.
"Are you gonna put those shoes on?" Tegan asked while pointing at the pair of Docs sitting inches away from Sara's feet.
"Hmm?" Sara hummed as she struggled to open her eyes.
"You'll need to put those on Sara." Tegan chuckled.
"Oh, right." Sara smiled, "I sort of dozed off for a second there."
"You need to wake up." Tegan scolded lightly, "You need to get some food and coffee in you to fuel you through the day."
Sara perked up at the mention of coffee, "I couldn't agree more."
They made their way to the elevator, Tegan letting Sara rest her head on her shoulder the entire time. The elevator stopped at the ground floor and Tegan lead them to the breakfast area in search of Ted.
She spotted him immediately, "Hey Ted."
"Hey guys." He smiled at them. Tegan thought he was way too happy for how early it was.
"I grabbed you guys a couple plates and piled food on. You'll have to get your own drinks though; I didn't know what you wanted."
"Thanks Ted." Sara smiled weakly at him and immediately sat down and grabbed a fork.
"Do you want me to get your coffee?" Tegan rubbed her shoulder and Sara nodded, "How do you like it?"
"I'll take a little cream and some sugar please." Tegan nodded and walked off toward the drink section of the breakfast counter.
"Did you sleep well last night?" Sara asked Ted after she had eaten a few bites of egg.
"I slept fine." Ted fought back a smile as he answered.
"What are you happy about?" Sara asked, noticing the brief smile that found its way onto Ted's lips.
"It's nothing." He waved it off, "Just something I talked to Tegan about this morning."
"Oh." Sara brushed it off, not knowing that she was the subject of the prior conversation. She went back to eating.
Tegan walked up holding two cups of coffee, "Here you are." She smiled as she handed the coffee to Sara.
"Thanks." Sara smiled back and immediately started sipping the hot delicious smelling liquid.
"Anytime." Tegan smiled, a genuine, beautiful smile that seemed to take up her whole face, showing off the gums above her teeth.
Sara had never seen Tegan smile like that, it was beautiful, and it had a childlike innocence about it. If Sara didn't know better she would have thought Tegan had never known any emotional pain.
"What are you thinking about?" Tegan asked before quickly resuming her perfect smile.
"You." Sara smiled back at her, "Your smile is beautiful, I've never seen it before."
"I smile all the time." Tegan laughed, thinking that Sara was going a little bit senile.
"Not like that." Sara shook her head, "This is a real smile. It's genuine, it's beautiful, it's absolutely perfect!" She grabbed Tegan softly by the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss, "Just like you." She smiled and kissed her.
"Thank you." She saw a tear slip out of Tegan's left eye and down her cheek. But she was still smiling, she was happy about everything at that moment.
"Hey guys." Ted brought them back to earth, "I'm still here."
The two girls laughed nervously.
"That was a beautiful moment and all," He gave Tegan a look showing just how much he cared that she was happy, "But we should probably get going soon. So you guys should really eat up."
"Okay Ted." Tegan brought up her hand in mock salute, "Whatever you say." She finished her salute, grabbed her fork, and started eating.
They ate the rest of the meal in relative silence. Not engaging each other in conversation as they tried to finish their breakfast quickly. Ted called a cab and they got to the study just after eight o'clock.
"Welcome back guys." The receptionist greeted them, motioning for them to walk into the studio.
They all said hi to her, and then walked through the door. Chris was sitting in the room listening to music through his headphones. He turned as the door opened.
"Hey guys." He smiled at them and shook their hands, "I actually have some work for you Mr. Gowans."
Ted seemed a little shocked and nervous, "Yeah?"
"Yeah," He smiled noticing how nervous Ted looked, "Whenever you're ready grab that guitar and plug it in." He pointed to a Gibson that was lying on the couch.
"Okay." Ted picked up the guitar, strumming a few times and playing a familiar riff before plugging it in, satisfied with the state of his nerves.
"I have some ideas," Chris began, keeping one ear piece over his right ear while talking, "I'll just have you play around with the arrangement. We're going to start with the track S O S." He played Sara's song through the mane speakers and began talking to Ted about things that Tegan and Sara didn't fully understand, but everything that he had Ted play sounded good with the song.
"Okay, So I think the third, fifth, and sixth work the best." He jotted something down on a sheet of music, "So if you can play those for me again, I'd like to work on volume on the track."
Tegan had a wide smile on her face. It was finally really hitting her. She was recording music. There was a professional musician helping to manufacture the electric parts that her songs had always lacked. She looked over at Sara who had a similar look on her face.
After Ted had played through the three versions that Chris had asked for Walla turned toward the girls, "You guys can actually go explore a bit if you want, I'll be working with Ted for a while. Just leave your number with my receptionist and I'll call you when I need you guys again."
"Okay, thanks." Tegan smiled and grabbed Sara's hand, leading her out the door, stopping briefly to tell the receptionist her number.
"Where are we going?" Sara asked as Tegan continued to lead her outside.
"There was a cute little park I saw on the way over here." Tegan smiled, "It's only a few block away."
"That's a lot of walking." Sara moaned her opinion.
"Please!" Tegan gave her a puppy dog look.
"Fine." Sara rolled her eyes and walked with Tegan.
"I'm glad we're her together." Tegan smiled and she looked over at Sara, "I don't know what I would do if it was just me recording."
"You'd do fine." Sara smiled back at her, "I still would have come down here with you."
"It wouldn't have been the same." Tegan shook her head, "It's much easier this way. It's soothing watching you record; even when you're singing angst filled songs it's somehow soothing to me. It might just be your beautiful voice or your passion when you sing."
"Thank you." Sara blushed, "That really means a lot to me Tegan. But I'm still not as good as you. Your songs are so personal and beautiful, mine are too obscure."
"Really? Cause I was thinking that compared to yours mine were too simple and boring, where as yours are complicated and just cool sounding."
"I guess we're just each other's biggest fan then." Sara smiled and tangled her fingers in between Tegan's.
"Yeah?" Tegan raised an eyebrow, "I'd like that. Us being each other's biggest fans, it feels right."
"It feels right because it is right." Sara chuckled.
They walked the rest of the way, silently holding hands and occasionally their heads resting on the other's shoulder. When they got to the park Sara understood why Tegan wanted to visit it. It was beautiful, lush green, and the fog was hanging low in the trees, giving it a cold but welcoming look.
"Isn't it pretty?" Tegan asked with a smile as she lead Sara to a bench.
"Yeah." Sara smiled at her as they sat down, "It's really beautiful."
"It's so green." Tegan said looking around.
"Its grass Tegan, it's always green." Sara laughed at her.
"Yeah, but it's really green." Tegan muttered blushing slightly.
"I know what you mean." Sara chuckled, "I just couldn't resist giving you hard time for that comment."
"Asshole." Tegan smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"This place makes me think of all the happy moments I shared with Jessie." Sara spoke up after a few moments of silence, "We used to sit and talk for hours in her back yard. She lived on a hill and it overlooked a beautiful rural town that on sometimes was completely covered in fog. It was gorgeous."
"I used to sneak out during the night and go to a small park near my home. I would just lie down and stare at the stars. It was my only escape." Tegan pulled Sara closer to her side, "Now I finally don't need an escape. In fact," She turned, inches away from Sara's face, "I would love to be locked up in you, never able to escape." They kissed, soft, slow, but passionate. Both of them knowing that escape and comfort were things they didn't need; it was something they had finally found in each other, of course there would still be times when they would both need comfort, but they wouldn't have to go far to get it.
They sat on that bench for over an hour, just holding each other and smiling at the view, at the thought of being together. It seemed like only minutes when Tegan's phone rang, interrupting their time.
"Hello?" Tegan answered, thinking they hadn't been gone for long.
"Hi," The woman on the other end spoke, "Chris said he will start working with you guys in thirty minutes."
"Okay, thanks." Tegan hung up and looked at the time, "Whoa. It's getting close to eleven. Let's get back."
Sara nodded her agreement and they walked hand in hand to the studio. When they entered the studio they could hear Ted playing guitar, and it sounded good.
"Hey guys." Ted beamed up at them as they walked into the room.
"Hey Ted, everything going well?" Tegan questioned him with a grin on her face.
"Yeah," He continued to smile, "It's been going great."
"He's been really good." Chris complimented him, "He's such a natural."
"Glad to hear it." Tegan changed the subject quickly, "What do you want us to work on today?"
"Harmony." Chris smiled, "Just give it a few tests, just so I know what I'll be working with for when we record the full album."
"Holy fuck!" Sara shouted, "You're gonna have us record an album?"
"Of course." Chris seemed just as excited, "You guys are incredibly talented. Why wouldn't I have you record an album?"
"Holy hell that's incredible!" Sara jumped up and down before hugging Tegan around the neck.
Tegan just stood speechless, in absolute shock. She opened her eyes and realized she was on the floor.
"She's up." Chris said over his shoulder, "You passed out for a couple minutes."
"Sorry." Tegan mumbled out, embarrassed by the fact that she had fallen unconscious in front of them.
"Stop being sorry." She heard Sara's sweet voice from somewhere behind Chris, "It's not anything to be sorry about. The news was obviously too exciting for you to handle normally."
"Yeah," Tegan agreed while sitting up, "That's why I decided to pass out." She joked with the three other people in the room.
"Glad your back." Ted grinned at her, "You had us worried for a second."
"Good to be back among the living." She grinned back, excitement coursing through her entire body, "I can't believe it though. We get to have a professional album!"
Sara jumped up and down again, "It's going to be incredible!"
Tegan couldn't agree more.
The rest of the recording that day was a bit of a blur. Tegan remembered going into the booth and doing the harmonies for a few of her songs. But she was coasting, not really consciously thinking about what she was doing. She was too busy reeling over the idea of actually recording a full album. It would take a long time, but she knew it would be worth it. She also knew that it would mean she would get to spend a lot of time with Sara, every day, until the cd was done. Then there was tour. Tegan couldn't contain the pure joy that came over her when she thought about going on tour with Sara. She knew it would be absolutely perfect.
As she and Sara fell asleep that night the last thing on her mind was this.
'She's absolutely perfect. She doesn't even realize it. The perfect little angel.' She fell asleep yet again with a smile on her face.