Legends

James rolled his eyes at Zacky's wide ones. He hopped inside the bus, as everyone stared at him. He went on his knees before Romane and Brian.

"W-why are you here?" She whispered, her hands shaking.

"Your friends Ted called me yesterday. I went here as fast as I could."

"You know I didn't want you to come..." she said, in a whisper.

"And let you there, knowing she was there?" Romane looked away. "What happened, baby?"

She didn't say a word and pulled herself closer to Brian.

"Can anyone tell me?" He was becoming angrier by the seconds, now, and having everyone staring at him didn't help him at all. He was worried sick and didn't know what to do.

"Yeah" he said, answering the question he saw in everyone's eyes. "Yeah, I'm James Hetfield, the front man of Metallica, and I'm her dad. Now that you know it, can you, please, stop staring?" They looked away quickly.

Romane was looking at her feet. She didn't want her friends to know it. But it was too late.
"Please" he said, cooling down. "Ro, tell me what happened."

"She... she came... and then..." she broke down into tears before beeping able to say anything else. She pulled her head against Brian's chest, as he hugged her closer. His hand stroking her back.

"She came, and told Romane she wanted her to come back to her." Brian said.

"And-and I asked her why..." she whispered.

"Why what?" James put his hand on her lap to calm her. He didn't wanted to pull her away from Brian, he knew she liked him, and was glad to be in his arms.

"Why she did that to me."

"And what did she said?"

Romane started to cry harder, and looked at Brian. He nodded, and explained.

"Because she was born." He said with a dark voice.

James' jaw clenched. He pulled his hand on her cheek.

"Don't listen to her. She isn't that important. We, all of us, inside this bus, are important."

"But she's my mom... and I abandoned -"

"Don't say that." He cut her. "Don't say you shouldn't have left her. You made the right choice. Never ever have a doubt about that."

"But-"

"There isn't any buts, sweetie."

She had a faint smile.

"Did she say something else?" He asked, worried.

She shook her head. It was better for him to not know her last sentence.

"You know you should have called the police, right?"

"Yeah but.... I hoped she was there to apologize..." she whispered. Brian stroked her hair slowly.

James signed sadly. "I'm sorry" he whispered, the he said louder. "I want all of you to pay attention, and if you saw that... woman closer from 100 meters from Ro, you call the police, okay?"

The guys nodded.

"I'm totally okay with that, but just, can you... like... explain us?" Tex awkwardly asked. He knew they all wanted to know, but was the one to voice it.

James looked at Romane, as he sat on the couch, next to her. She nodded, and pulled her head into Brian's neck. His arms were holding her in his embrace. He bent his head down, and kissed the top of her head, then let his lips and nose against her hair.

"Romane's mother and I had a nightstand once I was touring in Europe. For me the story stopped there. But in reality, she was pregnant. She wrote my name on her paper, but I didn't know it. She made everyone believe I was touring and couldn't be there for the birth. And after she took her baby girl, Romane, home like it was nothing. She had to stop working to rise her baby. But her boyfriend was working, so he helped her. She was a good mom, and loved her daughter. Even if she had some problem with people, they were judging her for having a baby so young, and all of that."

He made a pause, breathing deeply. He knew that from the trial.

Romane pulled herself into a ball into Brian's arms.

"And one day, it all went wrong. She started drugs. There's still many things we don't know about that moment: Romane was too young and her mother's boyfriend... isn't a sure source of information." His tone was hateful. He breathed to calm himself. "Anyway, the drugs can have a horrible effect on people. She became crazy. She loose many many money, and she stopped taking care of her girl. And step by step, she started believing it was all her baby's fault. At the trial, she said that Romane took her money, her time, her job, her place, everything away. And she started letting her anger go on Romane."

He didn't want to continue. He closed his eyes a second, and at his surprise, Romane started telling the story.

"And she started punching me. At the beginning it was just slaps. On my face, or on my butt, like kids. It became slowly punches. In my stomach. She kicked if I fell on the ground. She quickly understood that if I had buries on my arms or face, it was hard to hide it. So she just punched my side and stomach. Or legs, in winter. I was so scared of her that I've never said it to anyone." She wasn't crying even more. Her eyes were on her memories. Brian was holding her close, trying not to stand up, and run after that bitch to kill her.

"Who... who was Arthur?" Jimmy asked, scared to know the answer. Her mom had say he had sex with Romane, and so far the only boy of the story was ...

"Her mom's boyfriend."

Romane tensed at the mention of this guy.

"Holy shit" Jimmy whispered.

Brian's hands were shaking with anger. Romane felt it, and rose her head to look at him. She found a hateful look on his features. With his hand on the back of her head, he pulled her closer, and kissed her forehead, his finger almost digging in her skin. He was glad to have her into his arms at this moment. He wanted to protect her from those two awful people.

"She ran away when she was 15. She ran to the police. Then they called me letting me know that I had a daughter. We made a DNA test since we weren't sure it was true, then she came here with me, leaving her mom and her boyfriend in jail, and the rest of her family in France."

The bus stayed silent for a while.

As always, Jimmy was the one to go talk to her. He went on his knees before her, and pulled his head in her sight, like the first time he talked to her.

"I'm sorry, baby. I understand now why you don't like having people close to you, and I'm sorry for the bear hugs." She looked at him, and saw worries and apologies in his eyes.

"It's okay" she whispered.

"It's not, but you're too kind to say otherwise." She blushed. "You're the best, Baby."

She rose her head, looking into his eyes. He don't find me disgusting.

Everyone nodded at his statement.

The rest of the day remained as them sitting there, talking about her dad, his music, and their own musics. No one asked her why she didn't wanted them to meet her dad. She had already opened herself enough.

The whole day, she stayed on Brian's lap, his arms around her. No one made a remark about it. They were all glad to see Brian with a girl as great as Romane, and they knew she needed him.

They decided to go to some random fast food, since Romane was the only one actually capable of cooking, and she really wasn't in the mood.

They stood up, and Brian didn't let her go away from him. He kept his arm around her back as they walked.

They sat on a table, outside. They ate, mindlessly talking.

When Romane stood up to go to the bathroom, most of the eyes at the table followed her. They wanted her to be safe.

When she walked out, a guy from the shop started talking to her. It was obvious that she wanted him to stop but didn't want to be rude.

Brian stood up, under the grinning look on his friends' faces. He walked to Romane, as he heard the guy talking.

"Come on! Give me your number!" He said.

Brian went behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist. He kissed her shoulder. She became bright red. He smirked." You're cute babe"

She blushed even more.

At this moment the two of them had completely forgotten the guy who was looking at them. He cleared his throat, and walked away. Brian a d Romane didn't move an inch. They were so comfortable in this position, they didn't wanted to move. They enjoyed each other warmth against their bodies.

Finally, Romane whispered "we should go back."

Brian kissed her cheek. "Yeah." But he didn't move. They smiled. She gave him a look before walking back to the table. Brian kept once more his arm around her.

As he sat at the table he saw the looks in his friends eyes. They were all glad he was with her. Glad he had finally found someone great. He looked at her. Yeah, he was glad to have her. Even if she made him loose his mind, he was glad she was there.

She was so beautiful and so strong... he smiled. He liked her so much.

Romane sat there, smiling to make them think she was alright. She wasn't her memories were running in her head. That horrible day when she ran away. All the times her mom punched or screamed at her. All the time Arthur went and raped her. She was trying her best to smile and to seem as if nothing had happened.

"I think we should cancel tonight's show." Matt said. They thought about it one second then everyone nodded. None of them was in the mood to jump everywhere faking being happy and full of energy.

Matt took his phone and walked away from the table.

They went back to the bus, then talked for a while.

They went to sleep early, since none of them was in the mood to party. James slept in Romane's bunk since she slept in Brian's one. Everyone let them do what they wanted, they were just glad to see them together.

She pulled herself underneath the cover. She was just wearing her Metallica shirt and panties. He smiled. She's so fucking beautiful. He went next to her, with a pair of boxer and pyjama pants. She pulled her head against his chest, as he stroked her hair.

James would be leaving the following day: he had a show with the band. He really needed to sleep, but couldn't. He was too worried about his daughter. She seemed to be good, but too good to be true.

He was awakened by her scream. He stood up, in a rush But before he came to the bunk, her heard Brian's voice.

"Calm down, Ro, you're here, you're with me, okay?"

His voice was filled with worries.

"Shhh... you're okay, no one's gonna hurt you, here... come here..."

James smiled. He had found someone to take care of her. He saw that most of the guy had their head in the corridor, to be sure Romane was okay. And even of they could hear her crying, they cod hear Brian comforting her. And soon, she wasn't crying anymore. James went back to his bunk, as everyone went back to sleep.

In his bunk, Brian was looking at Romane. She had her head against his neck, and her head rested on his chest. He kissed her on the top of her head. She wasn't sleeping, he knew it. But she wasn't crying anymore.

"Thanks" she whispered.

"It's nothing, Ro." He shrugged.

"Not just for now, for all the things you've dome for me..." he pulled back but she followed him, keeping her head right under his chin. He smiled.

"I didn't do anything I didn't want to."

"Even."

"I didn't even did something huge. It really was nothing" he shrugged once more.

"For me it was. Huge."

"It's okay, babe"

Babe. Its eems so strange to call her babe. He would never admit it, but he somehow liked calling her babe. He liked it too much for his liking.

"You still see me the way you used to?" She looked at him, with worried look. He frowned, confused. "I mean, after what you learned about me, today... it could, I dunno... change..."

He looked at her. Then he slowly leaned in, to let her the chance to pull away if she wanted. But she didn't move. She was staring at him. He stopped when his forehead was against hers.

"No the way I look at you didn't change at all. I feel the same way about you." He whispered. He smile went on her face, as her eyes felt to his lips. He smiled and kissed her. Like the first time, he didn't move his lips. But simply feeling her lips against his, and mostly all the meaning that was behind that gesture. She drew closer from him, and he couldn't help but start to really kiss her, once she was so close. She answered to the kiss, her heart running. As he kissed her, his hand went to her cheek, and he stroked it.

He finally pulled away. He looked into her eyes.

They didn't need words. The look in each others eyes was enough. They knew the feeling was mutual. They smiled at each other.

She pulled her head against his chest, smiling.

I've beat you, Mom. I'm able to love and to be loved by someone. You didn't break me enough to stop my feelings. [i/]