More Than Anything

Chapter 1- That's When I'll Stop Loving You

~*Amanda's Point Of View*~

I sighed to myself and fell back onto yet another hotel bed.

We had been on the road for 4 months now, meaning that it had been nine months since Ashley was released form the hospital.

Aurora was a year old now. Her birthday was last month. The guys sang happy birthday to her during the concert that had been the night of her birthday.

Ashley had given me his grandmother's engagement ring. She left it to him to give to the woman he loved when he proposed. Even though he didn't propose he still wanted me to have it. I wore it with pride, even if I was the only one who knew that I was wearing it. We had to hide the engagement for now. I wore the beautiful sapphire ring on a thin silver chain around my neck. It was always hidden from view and kept a secret. We hadn't even started planning. No date set. No church reserved. Not that I was in a hurry to get married or anything, but I didn't want to be 40 when we finally did.

Waiting was giving me doubts. I was beginning to think that he didn't want to get married anymore. Maybe he didn't and this was all just a big mistake.

I sighed again and went to get Aurora. Ashley had her in one of the other rooms where him and the rest of the guys were hanging out.

I knocked on the door next to ours, which was Janie and Jacob's room and waited for someone to answer.

"Hey Amanda."

"Hi Jake." I said as I walked into the room. I walked over to where Ashley was sitting on the floor. He had his knees pulled up and Aurora leaning against them.

"I came to get Aurora. It's time for her to be fed and to take a nap." I said kneeling down besides Ashley.

"Ok. I'll come in a few minutes all right?"

"You can stay here. I know that you want to spend time with your friends. There's no big hurry." He nodded and went back to watching the game. They were all watching football. Why I don't know, but they were. I picked Aurora up and she immediately began to cry in protest.

"Daddy!" She screamed, reaching towards Ashley and struggling to get down.

Daddy was her first and only word. She had started on mommy but hadn't quite got it. She had begun to toddle around too.

"You can see daddy later. Right now you need a nap." I said as I walked over to the door. I left the room and went back to Ash's and mine.

Once we were back in the room I was able to calm her down enough to feed her and change her diaper. Once I had finished feeding her though, she began screaming again.

~*Ashley's Point Of View*~

"Aurora is crying again I should probably go in there."

"All right, just remember that we have sound check in two hours."

"Ok, see you guys then." I left Jake's room and went over to mine.

Once I had opened the door and slipped into the room I began to walk over to where Amanda was sitting on the bed, even with her back to me I could tell that she was crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked, sitting down next to her.

"Aurora hates me. She's not even a year old and she hates me." She said, attempting to wipe away her tears. I gently took Aurora from her and calmed her down.

"See she hates me. Everytime I hold her she starts screaming and then you pick her up and she's fine again."

"I don’t know why that is Manda, but I do know that its not because she hates you."

"How do you know though? I mean how do you know for sure that she doesn't hate me."

"Because I do. No one could hate you Manda. I've got two hours until I need to be at sound check so why don't we take a nap until then." She nodded and then turned on the alarm clock so that I would be awake in time to go to sound check.

I stood up so she could pull down the covers and then handed her Aurora. I climbed under the covers and then Amanda laid down, situating Aurora so she would be safe.

Once she had Aurora settled I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me.

One week later we found ourselves in San Francisco. Amanda and I had barely spoken two words to eachother. She rarely came to the shows and by the time I got home she was normally already asleep. I had rehearsals and interviews all day, so she usually woke up after me too.

"Are you coming to the concert tonight?" I asked pulling a shirt over my head. I was on my way to sound check.

"No." She replied shaking her head. "I'm not feeling well and I have a migraine. Janie said that she would watch Aurora for me so I could sleep."

"You haven't been feeling well for awhile now, maybe you should see a doctor."

"I'm sure its nothing." She said pulling back the covers to lie down.

"I love you. See you tomorrow morning."

"I love you too. See you in the morning." After that I left the room. I sighed to myself and headed down to the lobby where I was meeting everyone else.

~*Amanda's Point Of View*~

I had just closed my eyes and was about to doze off when I heard a scream and a knock at the front door. Recognizing the scream as Aurora's and realizing that the knock probably belonged to Janie, I threw the covers off of me and with an aggravated sigh went to answer the door.

"She wanted you." I gave her a skeptical look but accepted my daughter from her anyways.

Amazingly enough, Aurora stopped screaming almost right after I picked her up.

"I was holding her and she started crying. I tried to get her to calm down, but nothing seemed to work. Then she screamed out mommy and that's when I decided to come get you." Janie said looking exasperated and tired.

"She said mommy?" I asked softly, a smile tugging at my lips.

"Uh huh and then she started screaming again."

"Wow. You said mommy." I said as I looked down to see smile gracing Aurora's face.

"Thanks for bringing her to me." I said, giving Janie a smile.

"Your welcome."

"Oh and thanks for watching her."

"It was no problem. See you tomorrow." She said as she headed back to her and Jake's room.

"Night." I said as I closed the door.

I walked over to the bed and laid down, gently placing Aurora next to me. I pulled the sheet up around me and soon fell into a peaceful sleep.

Home

Chapter 2- Foolish Games