Page 98 of Two Hit Wonder

"Shepherd." She nodded at him. "I believe this belongs to you."

Mo extracted herself from Iona's grip long enough to make a face. "I'm not a parcel."

"You traveled four hundred miles without permission. You're lucky you're not in a crate."

Shepherd's mouth twitched. It was the closest thing to approval Maeve had seen from him since she’d left Scotland the first time.

"Right," he said, looking around at all of them. "Now that we're all here. Lakeside is still on."

Cam made a noise that might have been excitement or might have been indigestion.

"But," Shepherd continued, "this is it. Last chance. You play, or you don't. You're a band, or you're not." He looked at each of them in turn. "I've risked my reputation for this. I've called in favors I'll never get back. So I need to know, right now, from each of you: are you in?"

✽✽✽

Mo was by her side, warm and safe, and Maeve was in the room, and just having them both close made Iona feel a sense of comfort, of rightness, that she hadn’t known she’d needed.

And she knew that she loved Maeve, had always known it, really. But now she knew that Maeve and Mo liked each other. She knew that Maeve had come back. She knew that Maeve was actually, now that she came to think about it, the only person she’d ever really wanted in her life at all.

But she also knew that Maeve might not stay. That Maeve might not want this at all. Or, to be more honest, that Maeve did want this but was terrified of it. Maeve might run.

There were demons here, for all of them. And the only way to put those demons to rest, the only way that any of this might work out to be a happy ending, was if the band played together. That would do it, Iona was sure of it. If they could all somehow see their way to working together, playing together, it would all… not disappear exactly, but be painted over by something better. Something worth keeping.

So when Shepherd asked his question, Iona didn’t even have to think. She looked at Maeve and something passed between them. An understanding. A question and an answer in the same glance.

Iona found herself nodding before she'd consciously decided. Maeve nodded back.

"I'm in," Maeve said.

"So am I," said Iona.

Cam punched the air. Ellie smiled, small and tired but real.

"Good," said Shepherd. "Then you’ve got about a week and a half to rehearse so that you don’t embarrass yourselves in front of thousands of people." He gathered his papers. "I'll send the finalized schedule tonight."

He paused by Iona on his way out, one hand on her shoulder. "Our daughter," he said quietly, "has good judgment about people."

Iona blinked at him. "Sorry?"

"Maeve." He glanced across the room to where Maeve was talking to Mo, heads bent together. "I may have misjudged her. Mo didn't run to someone dangerous. She’d never do that. She ran to someone safe." He squeezed Iona's shoulder once and left.

Iona stood there for a moment, processing. Shepherd trusting Maeve. Maeve trusting herself enough to come back. Mo trusting all of them enough to tell the truth.

"I need to say something," Ellie said suddenly. Her voice was steadier than it had been in weeks. "I'm sorry. For lying to you. For making you part of something you didn't choose."

"Ellie…" Iona started.

"Let me finish." Ellie looked at each of them. "I was scared. I still am. But I should have told you the truth. You deserved the choice."

"You were protecting us," Cam said. "That's what you do. It's annoying, but we're used to it."

"It was still wrong."

"Then we forgive you," Iona said simply. "All of us. Don't we?"

Maeve nodded. Cam made a gesture that might have been a salute or might have been an obscene hand sign, it was hard to tell with her.

Ellie gave a sharp nod in acknowledgement.