True Love Ever After

Third Person P.O.V.

The sky was slowly getting lighter as Michelle finally woke up. Quickly and quietly she made her way to the twins' room after getting dressed, carrying each of them individually to her car as they slept. She then grabbed the bags, stuffing them in to her trunk before making sure she had her phone, her keys, all that.

With everything in check Michelle slid into the passenger seat and started the car, driving off in to the early morning.

It was actually a long drive, seeing as they were going right from the very edge of the outskirts of Vancouver, and right to the other edge. So with the twins still asleep Michelle had all the time for herself.

As if on default she started humming, just softly singing here and there. It only took her about a minute before she realized she was humming along to By Now, and she nearly slammed her head in to the steering wheel. There was no stopping it now.

The steering wheel felt all too familiar at this point, watching the memories span out like a road map. Or specifically, one story of a memory really.

After the Stutter music video was released, everyone was really happy. Then tragedy kind of hit when Darla got incredibly sick. It wasn't one of those viruses that came and went in a week or two. No. This was a full out flu where she spent about 2 months in the hospital and even when she got out she was still under the weather.

Needless to say she was in no shape to be acting.

There was really only one person who could take over to finish the story.

Michelle.

Despite playing Porcelain in the video for Face The Music, she was never in any music video or anything to do with the story. Plus that tour video shoot, it took nearly two weeks to get all the spray tan off.

So with a little makeup and her hair done, there was hardly any difference.

It wasn't easy though, seeing as Michelle had never been the greatest with being on camera.

However it was all those memories, the ones of filming By Now, those are what flooded her head. The cars, the guns, the monologues, the story coming to an end, and most of all the kisses. That day, though it was like filming a movie, that day was one of the most heartfelt days she'd ever spent with Josh. They didn't even know she had turned the entire video in to an mp3 file, monologues and all and could even quote it word for word.

If asked, she'd say it was her favourite memory, not even on their wedding day had she felt closer and more loved.

With that Michelle decided it was time for a stop, slowly taking an exit and pulling in to a Tim Hortons parking lot. As soon as she turned off the car, just letting her thoughts take over.

"Whatever she wanted, I wanted. And nothing else mattered, because we were in love. Sometimes when your eyes see something that the heart can't explain, your mind makes up a new history to make sense of it all... You make a new story... one with the fairytale ending you deserve. You sit back and say to yourself: Once upon a time... I awoke."

That was it, she was done because the minute she stopped thinking aloud, Michelle broke down crying. Her head hit the top of the steering wheel and she just cried.

She wasn't even gone an hour and she was breaking down, but surprisingly when her tears finally dried, the kids were still asleep. So with all the strength she could find, Michelle started up the car again and continued driving down the road.

After maybe another half hour, that's when the twins began to stir and wake up. Michelle just smiled, her eyes still a bit red.

"Well good morning sunshines." The two just laughed.
"Where we going Auntie?" Alice asked, looking out the window.
"Well when I was little, my parents took Mike and I to our family cabin to have fun. So I asked, and they said we can go there to have a mini vacation."

All she heard were giggles of excitement, so Michelle guessed they approved. Thankfully it was only about another half hour, and that was manageable.

...........

After settling in to the cabin when they got there and after making lunch, Michelle decided to take the twins to the park nearby. She'd always loved it growing up.

So there she sat on the park bench, carefully watching both Alex and Alice, making sure they didn't get hurt. That's when she saw them, two girls walking up to her. They had to be between 16 and 18, but you could tell they were there for only one reason.

They recognized her.

When they got closer Michelle now saw that one was blonde and the other a brunette... and they both stopped in front of her. The blonde girl spoke up.

"I'm sorry to disturb you but, would you happen to be Michelle Ramsay?"

Michelle smiled and nodded, it wasn't all he time you got fans as polite as theses ones.

"Is it possible we could get a picture with you?" the blonde girl asked.
"Of course."

Michelle stood and wrapped her arms around the girls, smiling as the blonde girl's iPhone took a picture.

"Thank you so much! And if you don't mind, can we just talk to you."
"I guess so, but I am here with my god kids, I have to watch them."
"Thank you! Uhm, my name is Sarah, this is Becca." the blonde girl said.
"Pleasure. It's not everyday I meet fans as nice as you two."

With that Michelle took up a conversation with the two girls, still watching the twins.

"If you don't mind me asking," Becca began, "Was it hard? To play Carolina in By Now? Especially since you were Porcelain?"

Michelle was taken aback, normally fans asked questions about recent things because since Ever After, they had done another album and are working on a new one as they spoke.

"Well, let me explain something. Porcelain and Carolina are the same person. Porcelain was just the good memories, what he was chasing and what he wanted, the good image he had portrayed in Porcelain. But Queen Carolina was the evil, the one trying to catch up with Josh. The real Carolina, what had been going on the whole time in By Now, she was both of those girls, she may have been bad but she really did love him. So in a way it wasn't hard at all for me because I understood and I knew how to be and act. However pretending to shoot Josh, not my most willful thing to do."

The two teenagers were in awe, and laughed a bit at the last part.

"But in all seriousness, no it wasn't hard for me. Actually the day we filmed that was the best memory I have of being with Josh."
"Not even when you got married tops it?" Sarah asked.
"It's a second, but the By Now video was the day I had never felt closer or more secure around Josh, or more loved."
"May I ask, are you okay? You seem kind of sad..." Becca pointed out.

Michelle realized her face had fallen again, and she knew she was on the verge of tears.

"Girls it's always a pleasure to meet such sweet and amazing fans like you, but I am here for my god kids and I'm sorry."

The two girls nodded, understanding, but before they left, Sarah said one more thing.

"For the record, I think you and Josh are amazing together. I kinda want a relationship like yours."
"I agree, you guys are the best couple." Becca chirped in.

With a goodbye and a wave, the two teens walked off. Michelle instantly got up and grabbed the twins, still taking in what she had just been told.

When she got back to the cabin she made the kids and early dinner and let them watch a little TV in the front room, while she sat on the front porch where she could still see and hear them.

Just sitting there on a chair on the porch of a cabin in a beautiful Vancouver forest, she let everything sink in.

For the second time that day, she began to cry. She cried for everything. For Ally, for Kyle, for the twins, for the band, but most of all she cried for Josh. Well, more like cried because of him.

This was her worst day ever. This was even worse than when she woke up in the hospital and being told she had no stable reproductive system, and couldn't have kids.

For a vacation, this was the most miserable time ever, and nothing would ever change her choices because she knew she'd still have support from people that she knew loved her.

Slowly she began counting down the hopeful timeline of when Jessica would visit.

Michelle might have been surprised to know she was dead wrong with her math.