Title: Saving Easter
Characters: Pete, Cady, and Audrey Townshend, John Entwistle, Keith & Mandy Moon, Roger Daltrey & sons
Word Count: 1367
Rating: PG [cuteness]
Warnings/Spoilers/Summary: Cady and Pete have the band and their families over for Easter. Pete has a surprise.




March 29, 1970
London, England

Seated at the dining table, Cady carefully filled plastic eggs with candies. Hearing the click of the dog’s nails on the floor, she glanced up. Towser lazily paced pass her into the kitchen. He sniffed around for a couple of minutes before pacing back into the living room. Shaking her head, Cady surmised that the dog was looking for Pete, likely worried that he had been gone for so long.

Come to think of it, he had been gone longer than she expected.

A few minutes later, the dog barked, indicating Pete’s return before she heard his shouted hello. Saying nothing, Cady continued to fill the eggs with candies, intending to be finished before dinner. Her husband entered the dining room, stopped, and stole a handful of jelly beans.

Her blue eyes went to his as he chewed a mouthful of sugary beans, “What have you been up to, Pete? I know you weren’t at the studio.”

“You do?”

“John called,” she responded, closing another egg. “He’ll be here at seven for dinner.”

“He’s coming over tonight for dinner?”

“Of course. But don’t try to distract me. What were you doing?” she asked, slapping his hand away from stealing another handful of candies.

“Nothing,” he replied, reaching for a foil-wrapped chocolate egg instead.

She rolled her eyes at his pilfering, “I don’t believe you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he glanced around the dining room, silently counting the baskets. “There’s four baskets. We only have one child.”

“Keith is bringing Mandy. Roger is bringing both of his sons.”

Pete fell silent for a minute, “You invited them over too?”

“It seemed rather ridiculous to have an egg hunt for just our two-year-old,” Cady responded.

“...I suppose.”

“Don’t worry about Keith. I can handle him,” she declared.

“Of course,” he responded distractedly. “You said John was coming over for dinner tonight, right?”

“Yes,” she eyed him suspiciously.

“Good, good. I’m going to go... do things...”

Shaking her head, Cady watched Pete shuffled out, his mind clearly racing with something in reaction to her announcement. Her eyes left his back and glanced at the clock, noticing she had less than an hour before needing to wake Audrey from her afternoon nap. Quickly looking over her table, she doubted she could get it all finished before the girl needed to get up. But if she let her sleep, the toddler would be up into the night, likely disrupting any adult time after dinner.



Pulling John aside while his brothers chased after Roger’s sons, Pete glanced around for his wife, “I need you to run interference.”

John smirked, “What for?”

“I need to make sure that the... uh... Easter Bunny is all set,” he responded, sipping his drink.

“I’m pretty sure Keith can get in his suit just fine.”

He blinked, “Keith is putting on a bunny suit?”

“You didn’t know?”

“Fuck. Well... too late now. Just keep everyone from going out in the backyard,especially Cady.”

John stared at his best mate for a minute, “Whatever you’ve done...”

“Keep her inside.”

Shrugging John headed to find Cady while Pete slipped outside. He picked up the large basket of eggs and quickly scattered them about the backyard, making certain to hide a few for the older kids to find, but leaving enough for his toddler daughter to scoop up as well. With his appointed task complete, Pete tossed the basket back at the house and stepped around a small cluster of trees. His face lit up. It was absolutely perfect. Now all he had to do was test it before anyone saw it...

“Hey, love,” John entered the kitchen as Cady wiped down the counters.

She stopped her chore, meeting his eyes, “I’m sorry that your wife couldn’t make it.”

“I’m not,” he stepped closer.

Biting her bottom lip slightly, Cady turned away and tossed her dishrag in the sink, “Where’s Pete?”

“Um... I’m supposed to be distracting you from him,” John declared.

She turned to face him again, “Are you now?”

“How am I doing?” he asked, grinning.

“Passably well.”

“Hmmm,” he stepped closer. “I suppose I should do better.”

“MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAM,” Audrey ran into the kitchen. “BUNNY!”

Cady’s eyes snapped to her daughter, “Is the Easter Bunny here?”

“Uh huh,” the wide-eyed girl said, nodding vigorously.

“Well we better go out and see him, huh?”

“Uh huh,” the girl repeated.

With a smile, Cady scooped up Audrey and headed out of the kitchen. Running his hand through his hair, John turned and followed. The children led the adults out onto the back patio, finding Keith dressed in a rented bunny suit. None of the kids knew it was the crazy drummer, however, and quickly clustered around him.

All except Audrey who quickly hid her face on Cady’s shoulder.

John stepped closer, “Don’t you want to go see the Easter Bunny?”

She refused to look up, not even at her beloved godfather.

Stepping out from behind the trees, cigarette in hand, Pete’s eyes landed on his wife and daughter. A bit surprised that Audrey seemed to be afraid of the Easter Bunny. He paused to snuff his cigarette out on a tree trunk before striding across the backyard towards his daughter. While he really wanted to tell Keith to bugger off, he could tell the other children were into the whole charade. That at least would keep the overactive drummer occupied. Instead, he continued towards his wife and daughter, flinching when he accidentally stepped on a plastic egg, crushing it and the candies inside.

“Hey, Audrey,” Pete spoke softly as he stopped next to Cady.

The young girl, thumb in her mouth, ventured a glance at her father.

“I’ve got something special to show you. You wanna come with me?” he held out his hands towards her.

“Mama.”

“Mommy can come too,” Pete nodded, his hands still held out for her.

“Okay,” she shifted over into her father’s arms.

Pete adjusted Audrey onto his hip, holding out his free hand to Cady. Glancing briefly at the Easter Bunny and their guests, her hand slipped into her husband’s. He led her across the lawn and beyond the small grove of trees. She instantly gasped and stopped, pulling her hand from Pete’s. He glanced at her, flashing her a grin, before focusing on their daughter once more.

“Take a look, Audrey,” he stated softly.

The little girl cautiously turned away from her father’s shoulder. Her blue eyes instantly widened, her small mouth falling open. Before the small family glittered a small carousel. With a dozen horses side-by-side moving up and down as the ride rotated slowly, the toddler was instantly captivated. A smile quickly filled her face and she clapped happily.

“I wanna go on the horsie, Daddy!” she declared.

Grinning, Pete stepped forward as soon as the ride stopped. Allowing Audrey to chose which horse she wanted to ride, he beckoned Cady to join them on the ride. Shaking her head, she headed towards them, stepped up on the platform, and climbed onto the horse next to Audrey. Pete remained standing behind his daughter, his hands supporting her balance as the ride lurched to a start. The young girl quickly began to giggle happily, babbling about the ride.

Still smiling, Pete carefully stepped between the horses, one hand still on Audrey’s back. His eyes met Cady’s. She shook her head in disbelief before leaning over and kissing him quickly before the horse moved back up.

“So this is why you didn’t want Keith to come over,” she commented softly.

“Maybe.”

“Shouldn’t you have okay’ed this with me first?”

“No,” he stole another kiss. “I wanted to surprise both of my girls today.”

“Oh I think you have, Pete. In fact, I think you may have just saved Easter,” Cady looked up at their giggling daughter. “No, I know you have saved Easter. Good job, Dad.”