Composer 4.6

~Berlin~

I rushed  through the doors of the ER and headed straight for the nurses desk. " I'm looking for my brother and his wife. Tanner and Emily Wright." I said as I walked up. "Please have a seat, and the doctor will be out to talk to you shortly." The nurse said pointing towards the waiting area. I didn't want to have a seat and wait, I wanted to know what happened, but I sat down anyway. The call that I thought was mom turned out to be the police letting me know that Tanner and Emily had been in an accident, both of them had been rushed here along with the driver from the car they hit. All I had been told was to get here as son as I could, so I threw on some clothes and caught a cab here.

I sat, I paced, I sat some more.

I had been waiting almost an hour when I saw the doctor headed my way. "Wright?" he said. I jumped up out of my chair and met him half way. "Have a seat" he said motioning to the chair I had just vacated. "I'm afraid I have some bad news, your brother had severe internal injuries,and though we tried all our efforts he didn't make it, I'm sorry" I felt like someone had reached into my chest and pulled out my heart, Tanner was dead. "What about Emily and the baby?" I asked though I didn't want to know the answer. "Emily was rushed for an emergency c-section in an attempt to save the baby, but we couldn't stop the bleeding and she died in surgery. The baby was delivered and is in the NICU. When you are ready I'll have someone take you up."

I just sat there, I heard what he said but all I could think was my brothers dead. I didn't know what to do next, I was numb. I don't know how long I sat there, but I finally decided that I needed to see the baby. I walked back over to the nurses desk and asked to see the baby, the nurse showed me the way.

Standing outside of the NICU, I really wasn't sure what to do, after standing there a few minutes, the doctor  came out to speak to me. "Can I help you?" "Yea, I'm here to see my niece? Nephew? Sorry they didn't tell me if it was a boy or girl." I said realizing I didn't even ask the other doctor. "What's the last name?" the doctor asked.  "Wright." I answered. "Oh" He started "It's a girl, I'll take you to see her. Don't be alarmed by all the monitors, she was very early, only thirty weeks. She is on a respirator since her lungs are underdeveloped, we gave her some medicine to help mature them." I just nodded and followed him.

He led me to an incubator with the tiniest little baby in side, she was hooked up to all kinds of wires and tubes, I wasn't really sure what I was supposed  to be feeling. I didn't stay long telling the staff I needed to get home, make arrangements for my brother. On the way out I asked the doctor what was going to happen to the baby. "When she gets big enough, I suppose you get to take her home." His answer was something that hadn't even considered. It was all too much, I couldn't deal with this right now. I felt like I was walking through fog, I don't remember going home but here I was. Walking through the house that's when it hit me, They were gone, this was it, it was just me now. I walked into Tanner's room and sat down on the bed. Seeing all his things, I couldn't hold it in any longer, I fell to my knees and I cried. I cried harder than I thought it was possible, I cried till I had nothing left to cry. I managed to pull myself up onto the bed where I fell asleep.

Composer 4.4

~Berlin~

I can't believe Tanner! He went and got married and didn't even tell me till Emily was moving in. I don't know what's gotten into him lately. Well what's done is done, though I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when he called mom and told her the news.

Emily was nice, though the situation was a bit awkward to say the least. I tried my best to get to know my new sister-in-law. She was from a small town, a crappy family, left home to come to the city when she was seventeen.  Not much to tell really. She was amazed by the apartment, and was a bit shocked when she found out who our mom was, even when mom and dad got re-married, mom never changed her name. She was still Laveau, where as Tanner and I were Wrights, so the connection was not immediately apparent. I did my best to make her feel like part of the family, though we didn't get along too well.

Since Emily didn't have a job, nor did she really need one now, she took it upon herself to take care of the house while Tanner and I were working. I think the long days alone started to get to her, cause she and Tanner started fighting quite a bit, and since their room was right across the hall from mine it was hard to miss. I tried to smooth thing over between them, but more often than not I just got caught in the middle. When they weren't fighting they were all over each other, it made living with them very uncomfortable.

The months passed much the same, alternating between fighting and loving, after one particularly bad fight I sat down with Tanner to try to talk things out. "What was this one about?" I asked. He just gave me a look and said, "I didn't make it to the dr's appointment today, I told her I would try to make it, but I got called in for an extra shift at work, so I did't make it."  "Doesn't she understand that you need the money to take care of her and the baby?" I asked. "Yea she does, she just wishes I could be more involved. I wish I could too." I knew there was more to it than that, but I wasn't going to push it. I only hoped that once the baby was born things would get better between them.

"Berlin! we're leaving now, be back later!" I heard Tanner call from the door way. He and Emily were going out for a while which gave me time to work. My progress at work had slowed down considerably since Emily had moved in. I still was part of just a quartet, still hadn't made it to the full orchestra. I was falling behind in my plan, I should have been further by now. I worked till midnight, I was more tired than I realized, as soon as I lay down I was asleep. I was woken up less than an hour later from my phone ringing, I reached over and answered it without even looking, thinking it might be mom, she was in Italy, her and dad had decided to move there when her tour was over. "Hello?" It wasn't mom....

Composer 4.5

~Tanner~

Married life was not what I expected at all, of course I guess it helps when you actually know the person you are marrying. Don't get me wrong, Emily is great, it's just, well I thought getting married and her moving in would make things easier, guess I was wrong.

It wasn't all bad, not at first anyway. We would spend our free time taking silly pictures, and just enjoying our time together. I would go to work, and she would take care of the apartment, she did a great job of it too, but as the months progressed, and it got later into the pregnancy, things changed. I don't know if it was hormones or just her personality coming out, but we ended up fighting all the time. We fought over the smallest things, I'm late getting home, fight, she burned dinner, fight. When we weren't fighting you couldn't keep us apart, those times were fewer and fewer.

After one particularly bad screaming match, I went into the kitchen to cool down where I ran into Berlin, she asked me about the fight, and I told her the basics, I was supposed to meet up with Emily at the DR's, but had to work instead, which was the truth, well mostly anyway. I left out the part that I volunteered to work, I just needed a break from everything.

"Berlin! We're leaving now, be back later!" I called to Berlin as Emily and I headed out. I knew our fighting was getting on Berlin's nerves, and I needed to try and fix things with Emily, so we went out for the evening. It started out great, we got all dressed up, and went out to a nice dinner. Emily was seven and a half months pregnant, but she was still just as Beautiful as the day I met her. After dinner we went dancing, which was great, we stayed for a few hours, till her feet started to hurt and we left.

"We should go see a movie" Emily said as we got in the car. "Sure, what do you want to see?" I asked. "I don't know, lemme see your phone, I'll look up and see what's playing." I gave her the phone and headed towards the theater. "Whose Katie?" She asked out of the blue. "What?" I asked not sure what she was talking about. "Katie. You have like a million texts from her. Who is she?" Sensing a fight starting, I tried to avoid it. "She's just bartender I work with." That didn't help. "Had a nice time, let's do it again soon?" She started reading my messages back to me. "Look. She's no one, just a girl I work with. I stayed late to help train her one night, that's what the text was about."  "Yea right Tanner. You expect me to believe you?." Believe what you want, I know what's true. I can't believe you would think I would actually cheat on you."  "Did you?" I couldn't believe she was accusing me of cheating, sure we didn't know each other all that well, but surely I hadn't given any reason for her to think  that. I was so angry I could barely concentrate on driving. "Tanner!" she yelled just as I missed the red light and our car sailed through the intersection. Metal scraping, glass shattering, Emily screaming. Then everything went black. 

Composer 4.3

~Tanner~

I didn't expect Berlin to go off on me like that, but I guess I deserved it. After she walked off and I heard the office door close, I called Emily. I told her I wanted to be there for her and the baby as much as shed let me. We ended up talking for almost an hour, getting to know each other a bit. Guess I should have done that to start with. By the time I hung up, Berlin had come out of her office to get something to eat, so I apologised for yelling at her earlier. She asked if I had told mom, yea I told her, can't say she was too happy. She chewed me out worse than Berlin had, though she did offer to come back which I turned down. I wouldn't be responsible for messing up her plans as well.

Emily and I talked every week, she lived on the other side of the city so we didn't see each other often, but we made sure we went out at least once a week. I hadn't known her very long, but I knew I cared for her, even without her being pregnant.

One day she called and asked me if we could meet up, we needed to talk. We met up at the diner once we were seated I asked her what's up? "I lost my job yesterday, and I don't have enough money to pay the rent, so I'm planning to move back to my hometown." She lived clear across the country. While it's true that I wasn't thrilled to find out I was going to be a dad, the idea had grown on me and now I couldn't imagine not seeing my kid. "You can't move back, what about me being a part of this?" "Sorry Tanner, I have to what's best for me and the baby. Back home I have some family that can help, you can visit if you want, but I have to go, I have no other options here." I didn't have a plan, but I had to come up with something. "When are you going?" I asked, not really wanting to hear the answer. "At the end of the month when I lease is up." Good that gave me sometime to figure out a plan. She left first and I sat there thinking for a while. 

I ended up going back home not too long after that, still not having a plan. I got home and Berlin was still at work, she worked long hours, many nights putting in overtime, so usually I had the house to myself for a while before I had to go to work. I went into the office intending to look up something on the computer, when I hit me, I called her up and told her my plan. "I have it all figured out where you don't have to move back home." "What's your plan?" she asked me a bit skeptically. "Marry me."

I know it was a snap decision, but I couldn't think of anything else. 

Composer 4.2

~Berlin~

I was steadily progressing at work, life for me was pretty routine, get up, clean the house, feed the dogs, go to work, come  home put in a few additional hours online, the bed.

I worked hard, Tanner partied hard. After working  for only a year there was an audition with the orchestra, I didn't get in to the full orchestra, but I did get in with a quartet, which was a start. I was so excited to tell Tanner the good news, but when I got home he was sitting on the couch staring into space. I could tell something was wrong, so I walked over and sat down next to him.

"Spill." I said. He looked at he and I could tell it was serious. "I messed up. I messed big time." Thinking he was in trouble with the law, I told him "Don't worry, we'll fix it. How much do you need? " He just stared at me for a minute, coming to the same conclusion that I had. "What? No, not that kind of trouble. I wish it was that kind of trouble." Confused I asked "Then what kind-" I didn't get to finish as Tanner blurted out "I got a girl pregnant, I was careless, we were drunk. It was just once." I was speechless, I knew Tanner was having 'fun' but I thought he was smarter than that. "What am I going to do?" He asked. A million comments swirled around in my head, both good and bad when I finally said, "Suck it up." "What?" He asked shocked at my comment. "Suck it up, be a man. You knocked her up? Well that was stupid, now you have to live with it, so man up. Fun's over, time to be responsible." I think my statement surprised both of us. "It's not that easy, Berlin! We haven't been dating that long , what do you expect me to do, marry the girl?"

Tanner was off the couch yelling at me now, so I yelled back. "Do you want your kid to grow up without a father like you did? Cause that's what will happen. You need to talk to her, and figure things out." I walked off too mad to hear his response. I still had so many more questions for him, but now was not the time. I went to my office and started working on a new piece for the piano I was working on. Several hours passed, and I went into the kitchen to get a snack, where I ran into Tanner. He apologized for yelling at me, and I asked him the questions I still had. What was her name, had he told mom yet, when did I get to meet her? Her name was Emily, and yes he told mom, who was even madder than I was,  offering to move back and help him figure things out. Fortunately he told her no, I would have smacked him if he had said yes, mom was finally living her dream after years of sacrifices for our sake.

Composer 4.1

~Tanner~

Bridgeport. What can I say, it's a city. I can't say I love it, won't say I hate it either.  It was Berlin's dream to move here, I just didn't want to stay home with mom and dad. Not that I would have minded getting to know dad some more, see he was presumed dead most of my life and just recently came back to us, it was pretty awesome having him back, though I don't think Berlin shares my feelings on that. Anyway mom, being a rock star, decided to go on an international  tour, something she kept putting off for Berlin and my sake. Dad went with her and for the next year, they will be touring all over the world. So that being the case I came here with Berlin. I work at a club here in town as a bartender, I'm pretty good at it too. The pay is nice, and the ladies are nicer. I decided long ago to have the most fun I can in life since it is so short, so I live everyday to the fullest. No long term plans for me, who knows what the future holds.

Berlin on the other hand has the next ten years of her life planned out. She's going to be a famous composer, and she's the kind of person that won't stop till she is either. Me I don't care for fame, I'd rather have fun without the whole world watching.

As soon as we moved here we pooled our money and bought a nice penthouse apartment, room for both of us without being crowded. We both needed jobs so we set out to get one, I scored a job at the first club I walked into, and Berlin got hired at the music company. When she got home she started working right away, she's so boring, sometimes I can't believe we're twins. I on the other hand went to one of the clubs in town, and spent my night drinking and chatting up the ladies. I stayed out all night going from one club to the next checking out the local scene. When I finally went home Berlin was leaving for work, I mumbled a good morning and headed to my room where I crashed. 

The good thing about my job was that I only had to work when they needed me, the rest of the time I was free to do whatever, which in my case usually meant hanging out at one of the clubs. One night at work I got to talking with the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Her name was Emily, and I made sure to get her number.

Composer 4.0

~Berlin~

Bridgeport! The city of my dreams! A lot of famous composers got their start here, and I plan to be among them. When I told mom I wanted to move here she was not too happy. She didn't want me to live in the city alone, so Tanner decided to move with me. Mom had set up a trust fund for each of us years ago when we were kids, and now that we were eighteen, the money was ours and between the two of us we had enough to rent one of the nicest penthouses in the city, a huge three bedroom with a nice view. 

We moved in and quickly got to work redecorating. One room became my office, where I moved in the piano. The room right next to the office became my room and the farthest room became Tanner's room. 

We both needed jobs, so as soon as we got settled in we went to find one. I got hired by a music company, right away. Because of who my mom is, I started out as a roadie. Some people don't like to use their parents' fame, but to me it's just another advantage I have. Tanner got a job at a local club bar tending, so if I had any desire to go to a club, I could have gotten in for free. Tanner in the other hand lived the club life, sometimes it was hard to believe we were twins, though we really didn't look alike anyway. I took after dad and Tanner takes after mom. It's weird to think about my dad, he's only been around for the past few years and he and I aren't as close as he and Tanner are. Anyway as soon as I got home from filling out all the necessary paperwork to start my job, I got on the company's website and started working. Tanner says I'm boring, but I have it all planned out. I'm going to be at the top of my career by the time I'm twenty-three, then I plan to find a husband and get married by twenty-five, then maybe have a kid by thirty. I'm not set on the kid thing yet, I don't care much for them. Once they're older they're not so bad, but babies and toddlers, annoy me.

I went to bed early, Tanner wasn't home yet, he was out having fun somewhere. The next morning I got up and fed the dogs, I have two of them. QT, who I've had since I was a kid and her puppy. Then I headed off to work, when I left for work Tanner was just coming in, he mumbled a hello, and stumbled off to bed. 

By the end of my first week I had already been promoted to being a roadie working with the local symphony. It was my job to help set up the equipment they would be using for a show. I would stay and listen after they would start playing, dreaming of my turn in the spotlight.