Chloe walked down the halls slowly, opening the door to the greenroom quietly and sitting down on the couch Isaac had been sitting on. Taylor looked up from his game with Lila, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. He quickly folded and jumped out of his seat, running to Chloe and giving her a huge bear hug. Chloe started laughing, hugging her friend back.
"Babe… I've missed you!" Taylor exclaimed, letting her go. Chloe smiled, scooting over a bit and patting the seat next to her. Taylor sat down immediately, his eyes never leaving her.
"I missed ya, Tay." Chloe smiled, almost sadly.
"You have no idea, babe… All of us have missed you." Taylor glanced over at Lila, who was now looking at the two quizzically. "Lila! Come here… Say hi."
Lila looked Chloe up and down once, trying to figure out who she was. Chloe finally just shook her head, unable to break her gaze on Lila. "That's ok baby… I know you don't remember me."
Isaac chose that exact moment to walk in, Claire and Nick in tow. Chloe closed her eyes as Isaac sat the twins down, taking a seat in the chair Taylor was in.
"Everyone… Say hi." Claire and Nick obediently smiled and waved to Chloe, obviously clueless as to who she was.
"Dad… Who… Ma'am, who are you?" Lila asked, her voice small and scared.
Chloe glanced at Isaac, who shook his head. He wasn't going to let her back down from this one.
"I'm your mother…" she said softly, almost inaudibly. Lila blinked a few times, just starring, while Nick and Claire immediately ran over to Chloe to engulf her in a hug. Chloe grinned, kissing both of them on the top of the head.
"All three of you have grown so much…" her eyes were shining, but her smile quickly faded when she saw the tears that were streaming down Lila's face. She hugged Claire and Nick once again, then slowly got up and made her way to Lila.
"I'm sorry, baby." Tears started trickling down Chloe's face, and she held her 10-year-old daughter in her arms. Lila started sobbing on her mother's shoulder, and Chloe whispered "I'm so, so sorry…" over and over.
After a minute of this, Isaac cleared his throat. Everyone in the room looked at him, and his gazed shifted from Lila and Chloe to Taylor, as if he was asking for his approval.
"We're here in Detroit for 3 days, and our next concert is in 5 days. You three have a sister I'm sure you haven't forgotten, and another sister you never knew about. Hell, I didn't know about her until just a few minutes ago. Now I need to know what we're gonna do."
"We check in to a hotel close to where Chloe lives and we hang out for a while, no question." Taylor said firmly.
"But what about afterwards? After we leave?"
"Can't we talk about this later?" Chloe pleaded, her chin resting on the top of Lila's head.
Isaac sighed, "Fine. But you're not going back to your place until we figure out what's happening. Meanwhile, we have a concert in less than 10 minutes, and I'm sure Elke's wondering where the kids are."
Elke was one of two hired nannies. Taylor and Isaac quickly left the room, apologizing and telling Lila to show Chloe where Zac's children were.
Lila led the other three down a few halls to a room where Emily and ZJ were watching an old Disney movie. Lila walked up to Elke, still holding Chloe's hand, and she introduced the two.
"Elke, this is Chloe, my mother. Mom, this is Elke." Elke just stood there gapping at Chloe, until Chloe reached out her hand uncertainly. Elke shook her head, then quickly took Chloe's hand a shook it slightly.
"Pleased to meet you, ma'am." Elke was around Chloe's age, perhaps a bit older.
"Likewise."
The two woman just stood there for a few moments, until Lila tugged at Chloe's hand. "Elke, I'm gonna take Mom to the side of the stage, ok? I'll be back later."
Chloe found herself being dragged through more halls until she was surround by noise. Lila pointed through a curtain, and Chloe could see Zac pounding away on his drums. She grinned widely, realizing just how much she had missed them.
They stood there for the first half of the show, moving back into the greenroom for the second. Lila told Chloe about all her adventures with her friends, siblings, and on the road, while Chloe told her about her little sisters and most of why she had left. Chloe felt like she had never apologized as much as she had that night, but by the time the band was back, all was forgiven.
"Chloe!" Zac screamed, running to her and throwing his arms around her neck.
"Oh my God… Zac…" Chloe cried, her voice muffled by Zac's shoulder. "I missed you sooo much…"
Isaac and Taylor joined in the group hug, the four on the verge of tears, the three men not knowing whether to slap Chloe or welcome her with open arms.
"Guys… We need to go back to the hotel. Chloe, you're coming with us." Isaac said, aware that he hadn't given her any choice.
Within a half an hour, the group was back at the hotel. Chloe had taken Lila in her car, barely making it out of the pavilion until a young woman recognized Lila. They had nearly been mobbed, but they reached Chloe's car in record time.
On the drive back, neither of them talked much. Chloe had the radio tuned to a radio station that played Hanson, and ironically, had been covering the concert.
"We are here LIVE outside the Fox Theater, where Hanson has just left the building. We've had reports of Isaac's wife and daughter walking out through the main entrance just minutes before. Sorry girls, but I highly doubt that such high class citizens would use the front doors." The DJ laughed. Chloe grinned and Lila broke into a fit of giggles.
"High class my ass… We showed them!" Chloe laughed, reaching over and taking Lila's hand.
When they reached the hotel, security had already cleared a path for the band, who was not there yet. Chloe had to flash out a couple of IDs just to get into the lobby, and another to get into the elevators. By the time they reached the room, they could hear the screams below of the fans who were now experiencing Hanson.
"Can you believe that all those girls go crazy over DAD and Uncle Tay and Uncle Zac?" Lila grinned, flopping down on her bed.
"Believe or not, I was once one of those girls… Just not as crazy." Chloe sat down in an overstuffed chair, resting her feet on a coffee table.
"You were?!" Lila gasped.
"Yep. Me and Kendall, we were inseparable. Best friends 'til the end." Chloe managed a weak smile.
"I'm sorry… I miss her too." Lila sighed, setting her head down on the pillow.
"I know, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't bring the subject up." Chloe looked down and traced the multiple scars she had on her left wrist. Just then, Isaac, Nick, and Claire burst into the room.
"What took you so long?" Lila joked, hugging her father.
"Thousands of screaming, enraged teenyboppers." Isaac replied, motioning Chloe to get up and come with him. "You three go to bed… And I don't want to hear a sound come out of this room. We have a busy day tomorrow. Good night." Isaac and Chloe slipped out of the room, into another one directly across the hall. Isaac closed the door and sat on the bed, scooting over so Chloe could sit next to him.