INTO THE FINAL HOURS - THE CONCERT CONTINUES

It was going on to the later hours of the morning, 11 am, when the guys come off stage, looking bleak and exhausted.
The concert had been going on for 20 hours by this stage, and all of the guys were starting to doubt themselves. They had been up now for about 30 hours and didn’t know if they could physically or mentally last 4 more. All of the girls had been able to catch some sleep during the night so they were rested, noticing the guys getting weaker as the time went on.

The crowds when the concert first started had been wild and free, cheering well over the field and into the night in support of the guys and in support of the kids that this concert would help. Now, the crowds had quieted, there was little cheer; none of the crowd had the wild spirit the guys felt they needed to keep going. The girls had also noticed this. While the guys had been on stage performing their half an hour, the girls had discussed between them what should be done to get the guys back on track and out there shining again as when the concert first began. They had decided that not only did the guys need some quiet time with their wives and children, but they also needed to come together as a group. When the Divos came off stage, Dori waited with Allie and Yannic, Cyd waited for Carlos with Leila Elena, Siobhan for Urs, Suzie for David, each in the separate dressing rooms.

Dori and Sebastien

Sebastien walked into the room rubbing his eyes hard, hoping he would be able to rub away the tiredness that was settling behind his eyes and seeping through his bones. He opened his eyes to the beautiful sight of his twin daughters crawling towards him, hoping to get picked up and twirled around by their beloved daddy. Dori walked to him, meeting him at the door with a big smile and hug.

Sebastien hugged and kissed Dori back and gathered his precious daughters in his arms. Knowing that if anything was going to get him through the next 4 hours it was going to be these three - the three most important people in his life.

“Dori, my love, it is great to be greeted like this. I love you, I love these 2 as well, but I am so bone weary and down trod. I feel like I am not going to be able to make it. I know the other guys are starting to feel the same… even David, who never lets anything beat him or get him down. When I started this, I had no idea just how tiring it would be. The crowd out there...”

“Are just as happy to be here supporting this cause as much as you and the guys are…. are just as happy to be supporting you along with it… just as happy to dig into their pockets and give… just as happy to keep all those in need of our help in their hearts and prayers just as we are doing. Most of all, they are just as happy to know that no matter how much money we make for AMTM in the 24 hours the concert goes on, that they have done even a little to support the cause that you and the guys support. You have done everything you set out to do in this, Sebastien. Not only have you raised money, and it doesn’t matter how much, to help those less fortunate than us. But you have raised public awareness now… you have gone out there and shown the world that these poor defenseless people are fighting everyday for the lives we take for granted. Because of all the wonderful work you and the guys have put into this and done, now there will be more children sponsored and saved, more children and elderly that won’t be living on the streets and won’t be hungry, and more people who will have a warm bed at night instead of a hard gravel road or a mound of dirt to sleep on. I can tell you for one, I am more proud of you now than I have ever been. I love you so much my heart is bursting with it. I also know 2 little girls that love their daddy so much; adore him in fact, and would not want him to give up when he is so close to finishing something that started as only a thought, an image, almost 7 long months ago.”

After Dori had finished speaking she noticed the girls looking up at them with confused curious expressions on their little faces. Mummy and papa were both crying and they were too young to understand why.

Cyd and Carlos

Carlos walked in to his room to find Leila Elena babbling gleefully in her porta-cot and Cyd waiting for him at the door. Smiling at him, she threw her arms around his neck. “Well, what a welcome this is. I might have to go out and come in again just to receive another one of those gorgeous smiles,” Carlos winked, kissing Cyd and throwing his daughter a kiss.

“Darling, you are welcome to one of these smiles anytime you wish to have one. But right now you look on the point of collapsing, so I think it might be wise for you to sit down and have a rest.”

Carlos sighed heavily as he flopped into one of the chairs near his daughter’s porta-cot. “I am exhausted. I feel like I could curl up and have a 10 year nap right now. But I know I can’t do that. I don’t know how any of us are going to make it through the next 4 hours. I mean, it has been so hard, all of us have been up for so long now, I just don’t know if I will make it.”

Cyd sat next to Carlos and hugged him around his waist, while looking into his eyes. “Carlos, you are one of the strongest men I have ever known - one of the most stubborn and determined. Once you put your mind to something, people know not to argue with you because you won’t change it, no matter what. I love that about you. This is the first time I have ever seen you come close to quitting anything and I don’t like that. What you and the guys are doing is such a great thing. You are fighting for those that can’t fight it for themselves. With this concert, you are doing something that nobody in this world can top. I love you Carlos Marin, our daughter loves you, and the fans love you. We… all of us… believe in you and all of the guys. Now it is time to find that belief in you. Go out there again with that sparkle in your eyes, the sparkle that made me fall in love again every time I look at you. Finish this concert as the superhero I know you are.” Carlos looked at Cyd in absolute love and wonder. The sparkle he had lost coming back into his eyes as he kissed the woman he loved, his wife.