Spring was starting to make itself known at King's Cove. The winter had felt long and short to the two young families who made their permanent home there, greatly due to the presence of two very small bundles of joy. Jack and Jasmin had caught a little karma over February - after having a trouble free pregnancy, Noelle was the colicky one of the two Christmas babies, but as April began to advance toward May, she had finally settled down, giving her parents time and space to catch up with themselves, each other, and their music.

Of course, a fair amount of the music in the house was aimed at little Noelle these days, but between them, her musically inclined parents had found a way to make even that fun for themselves. Kaylee's Christmas gift for them had been software for their computer - software to build multi-layered tracks for their own use at home - and it had been put to the test to create some elaborate versions of well-known nursery rhymes. Jaz was attempting an experiment today; despite their daughter's lack of rhythm, she'd handed Noelle a coffee can full of lentils and put her in front of the microphone, letting the four-month old boogie away with her improvised instrument to her heart's content.

As for Jack, he was taking to being a dad a lot better than anyone would have guessed, including himself, much to little Noelle's pleasure. Daddy was, by far, her favorite toy, and now that he was a father, he was spending far less time at Custom Kings and more time at home with his wife and daughter. He had worried about it at first, but there were plenty of people who could work a cash register just as well as he could. Today found Jack sitting on the floor beside his daughter, laughing along with her as she banged away on her makeshift drum. "You know, I think she might have a little Ringo in her!" he called over to Jasmin.

"Bite your tongue, Jack Granger," his wife laughed back to him. "She's all you, baby, I'm not the time-traveling sex fiend in this family!" If Lena ever heard what her cousin had just called her, there might be words, but Jaz was fairly confident that Jack would keep it to himself. Noelle giggled as she "played", utterly unaware that her jam session was being recorded for posterity.

"What has that got to do with anything?" he asked with a chuckle, not quite following his wife's logic - or lack thereof, but then when were women logical, really' "I'm just saying I think she has some rhythm. What do you think, Noe?" he asked his young daughter. "Think you might be the next Meg White?" Though he was from an earlier era, with Jasmin's help, he'd managed to catch up, at least as far as music was concerned.

Delighted with herself, Noelle tipped her head back to look up at her daddy and immediately overbalanced, falling backwards into his lap with a loud, unrestrained laugh as she blew bubbles up at Jack. Jaz snorted with laughter, leaning over to kill the mic. "I think the show's over for now," she chuckled, saving the track with a quick tap of fingers on the keyboard to label and store it.

He laughed again, catching his daughter as she landed in his lap. "You are too cute, you know that?" he asked, her leaning over her to blow bubbles back at her. "As cute as a bug in a rug ....whatever that means!" He really had come a long way since he'd arrived in Rhy'Din.

Of course, putting your head in close proximity to a flailing infant hand holding a re-purposed coffee can wasn't always the wisest move. Jaz winced sympathetically as Noelle's gyrations caught her father's head at least twice. She'd been on the receiving end of those backhanders herself. "Hey, Kaylee had a good idea last time she was over here," she offered, switching the computer off as she rose to her feet. "She thinks we should be writing while we're waiting out little miss here's first year."

He managed to avoid getting whacked a second time, chuckling as he rubbed at the red mark on his forehead where his daughter had used his head for a drum. "Writing what?" he asked, as he scooped their daughter up off the floor and set her on his lap. "Songs?" he asked, stating the obvious.

"Yeah," Jaz nodded, jumping up to lean over the kitchen counter and locate something rusk-like for Noelle to gum on. They were getting close to nap-time, but some days their little girl could be temperamental. "Like an album," she told Jack, sliding back down to swap the coffee can in Noelle's hand for the rusk with an excited smile that was echoed back to her. "She's got contacts; she says we could take our time writing it, record a couple of rough tracks on our computer here, and she could get us studio time to record the whole thing when we're ready."

"An album?" he echoed, an inquisitive look on his face. "You're not talking about lullabies here, but original compositions, right?" he asked further. He'd managed to scribble a few songs down when he'd been up late at night pacing the floors with Noelle, but he had yet to show them to her, afraid they weren't very good.

"No, not lullabies," Jaz chuckled, shaking her head. "Our songs, our music. She's offered to transcribe for other instruments if we want to expand our sound, too, but for now, I think she's right." This was a big step forward from the woman who had been vehemently against recording her music when they had first met.

"But we don't have any music," he pointed out helpfully - not yet, anyway, except for a few hastily-scribbled songs of his own and whatever songs Jasmin might have written. "Do you really think it's doable?" he asked, almost afraid to get his hopes up. All he'd ever really wanted to do was be a musician, but life had taken him in a completely different direction until now.

"Yet," she reminded him, thumping down to sit beside her husband and daughter as Noelle gummed and gurgled to herself and them. "I love playing music with you, Jack. It's been amazing to watch you come out of your shell, and really embrace performing. But I have feeling that you'd be stunning playing your own music, our music. We'd have to work around Noelle, but we have the time to be able to do that. We've written harmonies for songs that didn't have them. We can write our own, I'm sure of it."

Jack chewed on his lip, looking uncertain. He had no doubt Jasmin was talented enough to record an album; Kaylee, too, for that matter, but he wasn't so sure about himself. "I wrote a few songs," he admitted reluctantly, worried she'd hate them - worried everyone would hate them. He'd wanted this for so long he was almost afraid to try for fear of failing, and yet, nothing ventured, nothing gained. "Maybe we should try playing a few in a club or something. See how they're received," he suggested, though they hadn't really been playing any gigs since Noelle had been born.

Jaz eyed him with a faint smile. "I think you should play your songs for me," she told him. "And we should work on them, and when they're ready, we should play them for Tommy and Lena. They'll give us good advice, proper criticism, the way we do for their boards. After that, we'll see. Deal?"

That was an even better idea, so long as Tommy and Lena were honest with them. "I think we should play them for Kaylee, too. She has a good ear for music, and she'll give us her honest opinion," he suggested further, knowing Tommy was practically tone-deaf.

"Good plan," Jasmin smiled, nodding in agreement. "So guess who's getting his guitar out when Welly goes down for her nap?" She leaned over, kissing his cheek affectionately. "I have a couple of songs to play to you, too," she confessed. "Colicky baby equals badly timed inspiration, I guess."

"Not badly timed so long as you're awake," he replied, and they'd definitely had some odd hours the last few months since "Welly" had been born. "Okay, what do you say, little girl" Think it's time for your nap yet?" he asked, picking their daughter up and moving to his feet.

They say the best songs are those that come from the heart, and it was obvious to Jack that Jasmin had not only written this song from her heart, but sang it that way, too. It was lovely and lyrical and more than a little biographical, but the best songs usually were. How could you really write a song about love without ever experiencing it, after all" He wasn't only listening to the lyrics, though, but appreciating the melody and harmony, as well, judging what they could build on and change to make the song even better. It wasn't until she was through playing that he dared offer any praise or criticism, and though the song was a little rough, he thought it showed promise.

"That's lovely," he told her, knowing at least some of it was about them, touched she had chosen their relationship as a subject for a song.

"Like I said, it's a bit rough," she shrugged, smiling at his compliment. "I need to work out the length of some of the lines, and write the rest of the lyrics. It needs a middle-eight, or it's going to be boring to listen to. But it's got promise, right' A bit of work, and it'll be suitable." Her smile softened as she looked over at him. "Seemed like the perfect subject to write about."

"I like it," he reassured her again, smiling as he took up his own guitar before claiming a seat on the couch and checking to see if it was in tune. It hadn't been sitting unused for too long, but it was a matter of habit to check before playing. "It's definitely got promise."

"It's not too specific, is it?" she asked, a little concerned. "I mean, the lyrics can always be changed. I don't want you to feel like anything I write gives people too much of an insight into our life together."

"Jaz, love songs are love songs. People will make what they want of them. So long as you don't give away any of our secrets, I'm pretty sure you're safe," he replied, knowing a lot of songs come from the heart and from experience. Then, there were the nonsense songs, one of which he was about to play her.

"Okay, note to self, no mentions of personal anatomy measurements in lyrics," she grinned, settling her arms comfortably along the curve of the guitar on her knee as he set himself up to play something for her. They had anything from half an hour to two hours, depending on how long Noelle slept, and even if all they did was just one initial play through today, it was a start.

That remark brought a blush to Jack's face, despite the fact that they'd been married for two years. He cleared his throat a little nervously, before he moved his fingers against the strings. The song he chose to play her was light-hearted and fun, silly even, something he'd obviously written to make Noelle laugh. It was too lively for a lullabye, and yet, it was pretty in its own way, and spoke of the love of a father for his little girl.

As Jasmin listened, she couldn't help smiling. It was a sweet, upbeat song, the refrain easy to pick up and one she could easily imagine being repeated by other fathers to their little girls. Better, the combination of chords, rhythm, and melody held in their essence the sense of silly fun Jack exuded whenever he was playing with Noelle. Like hers, it was a little rough still, and she thought it could do with other layers to it, but all in all ....

"I love that," she told him when he was done, genuinely delighted with his musical stylings. "The middle-eight could be longer, and maybe expand the chorus two more lines" Just to make it a fuller song, you know" But that's amazing, baby. It sounds just like you and Noelle when you're giggling together."

"Does it?" he asked, beaming a bright smile at her praise. He hadn't shared any songs that he'd written with anyone until now, and he was still a little bit shy and apprehensive about doing so. Of course, they weren't all going to be good, but he was just getting started.

"It really does!" she enthused. One thing he could count on Jasmin for was honesty - she was good at giving criticism without hurting his feelings these days. "It could use a couple of guitars, and maybe a drum backing track, but it's a great, upbeat piece of music."

"We're gonna have to hire a band," he mused aloud. Up until now, it had just been the two of them playing a few gigs here and there. They'd managed with just the two guitars doing mostly acoustic renditions of popular songs, but if they were going to record an album, they might need to hire a couple of musicians to round out the band. Kaylee was one possibility, but they didn't really need another guitarist.

"For the recordings, yeah," she nodded in agreement. "But there are a lot of session musicians out there who will happily play on a backing track for us, which means we can keep doing gigs just the two of us, and still keep the fuller sound that people who listen to the album will want to hear."

"What happens if they want us to go on tour?" he asked, one arm slung over the front of the guitar while it rested against his legs. He knew he was probably getting a little ahead of himself, but touring would be difficult with a small child to think about.

"Then we get Des to sit down and work out the details with us so that we don't do too many dates, and there's plenty of time between each gig to spend with Noelle," Jaz told him confidently. "But, you know, that's months away, if it happens at all. We're not signed with a label. We don't have to sign with a label to record an album, baby. Let's just see how it goes, okay' Who knows" We might get discovered, we might not. Either way, we'll keep making music, and on our terms."

"Yeah, but ..." Jack said, trailing off. There was always a but, it seemed, especially where Jack was concerned. He had a certain amount of pride that always caused him to circle back to the subject of money, despite the fact that the stipend they received from the Grangers more than provided for their needs.

"Jack ....we made enough money over the last year to tide us over easily," she told him gently. "I'm as reluctant as you are to touch the Granger trust fund, remember" But we have a family, and as much as we might want to go off on multi-date tours and PR tours and gig at all the festivals ....I won't do that to Noelle. She needs some consistency, and unless we can get that from a label, we'll have to find a way to have music and our family at the same time by ourselves. It'll be a lot of hard work, but I'm confident that we can do it."

"Yeah, I know," he replied with that worried frown of his. They'd been over this before, and he knew he was worrying for nothing, but the shop was Tommy's dream, not his. His dream had always been about music, and now that it was within reach, he didn't want to fail, but it wasn't just about him anymore. He had Jasmin and Noelle to worry about now.

"Jack ..." Jaz leaned over her guitar, trailing her fingertips against his cheek as she smiled in tired amusement. "We don't even have one complete song to record yet. All this worry' It's months too early, if it's even necessary at all."

"I know. I'm sorry," he apologized, still frowning. "It's just ....It's been a dream for so long, I sometimes wonder if it's real," he told her. And that dream included her and Noelle, too. His life had changed completely since coming to Rhy'Din - all for the better.

"It's real," she promised him, gently setting her guitar aside to slide over and kiss him. "It's very real. And it's not going anywhere." Nose to nose, she smiled, nuzzling close for a long moment. "Who says you have to be famous to live your dream?"

"I don't want to be famous," he admitted quietly, his nose circling hers as she nuzzled close. "I just don't want to work in the shop for the rest of my life. I know that sounds horrible when Tommy and Lena have been so good to us." And there it was - the real crux of the problem.