Part 97

Noel stepped out of the room, the silence of the suite feeling heavier than the noise of a stadium. Inside, the medic, who he'd called to replace him for a while, was a quiet shadow by Caroline's bed, watching the slow, rhythmic rise and fall of her chest as she finally fell into a deep, exhausted sleep. The withdrawal had been brutal, hours of Noel holding her hands while she shivered and fought the phantom grip of what Rob had done to her.

He walked down the hall to Liam's room and didn't bother knocking softly. Liam opened the door almost instantly, as if he'd been standing right behind it. He looked at Noel, saw the hollowed-out exhaustion in his eyes, and simply nodded.

'Balcony?' Liam asked, reaching for a pack of Marlboros

'Please,' Noel rasped.

They stepped out into the warm Edinburgh evening and stood in silence for a moment, the only sound the flick of a lighter and the long, heavy exhales of smoke.

'She's finally under,' Noel said, his voice cracking slightly. He leaned his elbows on the railing, staring at his hands. 'The medic says the worst of the physical stuff is passing, but she's..she's so terrified, Liam. Even in her sleep, she's flinching and crying..'

Liam gripped the railing so hard his knuckles turned white. 'I can't get it out of my head, man. The state that prick left her in. It's one thing to be a junkie, it's another to force it on someone like that. He's fucking done for.'

'I know,' Noel murmured, closing his eyes. 'I just keep thinking that if I'd reacted differently, or if I had known he was manipulating her, then none of this would have happened, he wouldn't have been able to get near her, I could have protected her.'

'Don't do that, don't punish yourself with the "what if's" ' Liam said, his voice firm, lacking its usual sneer. 'We got her back. That's what matters now. We're in Edinburgh, we've got security on the door, and that doctor is top-tier. She's safe.'

The sliding door behind them hissed open. Noel instinctively moved his cigarette behind his back, turning around.

Bowie was standing there with Sonny and Donovan hovering behind her like a little pack. They looked uncharacteristically subdued, their eyes wide as they looked at their dad and uncle.

'Daddy? Bowie whispered. 'We're really hungry.'

Noel felt a sharp pang of guilt. He'd been so focused on the physical struggle in the other room that the basic needs of his kids had slipped through the cracks.

'Sorry, B.,' Noel said, his voice softening instantly. 'I lost track of time. You lot must be starving.'

'We waited for Caro,' Sonny added, looking at his Dad and wondering why he was alone. 'Is she coming out to eat with us?'

Liam ruffled Sonny's hair with a rough, fatherly affection. 'She's got a bit of a bug, the Doc says she needs to sleep it off so she can see us tomorrow. Anyway, we have dinner reservations in half an hour, so you lot better go freshen up, because we're going somewhere fancy.'

Bowie looked at Noel, her bottom lip wobbling just a fraction. 'Are you ok, Daddy? You look sad.'

Noel met her gaze, surreptitiously stubbing out his cigarette in a nearby ashtray. 'I'm just a bit tired, love,' he lied gently, reaching out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. 'It's been a long day, that's all.'

In response, Bowie held out a slightly crumpled piece of paper she had been clutching. It was a drawing rendered in bright, frantic crayons, showing a tall figure surrounded by giant, lopsided yellow suns.

'I made this for Caro,' she murmured, 'can you give it to her? It's to make her feel better. I put extra suns so she isn't in the dark while she's sick.'

The sight of the get-well-soon gesture, a pure expression of childhood empathy, made the lump in Noel's throat feel impossible to swallow. He took the paper with trembling fingers.

'I'll put it right by her bed, B. It'll be the first thing she sees,' he promised. 'Now, go get that silver dress on you've been talking about all day. We'll be leaving soon.'

Noel walked back to the dimmed suite, the scent of antiseptic lingering in the air despite the open window. The medic looked up, gave a slight, professional nod, and retreated into the living room area to give them a moment.

Noel knelt by the bed. Caroline looked fragile, her skin nearly translucent against the white linens. He reached out, his thumb grazing her knuckles, which were finally relaxed.

'Caro?' he whispered, leaning close to her ear. Her eyelids fluttered, and she let out a small, tired moan. 'Hey, it's me. I'm going to take the kids out for a bit. They're starving, and they need to get out of this hotel for a while.'

She didn't fully wake, but her hand twitched toward his. He took it, squeezing gently. 'I'm leaving the medic right here. Liam and Debbie and the kids are coming too. You're safe, okay? I'll be back before you know it.'

He reached into his pocket and pulled out Bowie's crumpled masterpiece. He propped it up on the nightstand, leaning it against a water carafe so the lopsided yellow suns were the first thing she'd see if she opened her eyes.

'Bowie made you this,' he murmured, his voice thick. 'She drew extra suns for you , so you aren't in the dark.'

He lingered for a second too long, watching her breathe, before forcing himself to stand up. He had to be "Dad" now. He had to put on the mask even though all he wanted to do was stay with her right now.

The transition from the hushed sanctuary of the hotel to the street level was like jumping into freezing water.

As they walked up to the restaurants entrance, the evening air was shattered by the strobe-light effect of a dozen camera flashes. Noel felt his stomach drop. How did they find us already?

'Keep your heads down! And just keep walking, don't say anything, ignore them.' Liam barked, his voice dropping into that protective, aggressive growl he used when the world got too close. He grabbed Sonny and Donovan by the shoulders, steering them through the crush like a human shield.

Noel scooped Bowie up, tucking her face into his neck, but there was no shielding them from the noise. The paparazzi weren't just taking photos; they were hunting for a reaction.

'Noel! Noel, over here! Is it true you're filing for full custody now Sara's being locked up?' one man screamed, thrusting a long-range mic toward Bowie's head.

'Is it true that Rob got Caroline hooked on drugs, Noel? Is she still on drugs? Did she overdose?' another voice shrieked over the din.

'What do the kids think about the situation with their mother?'

Noel felt Bowie's small hands grip his shirt, her body trembling against his chest. He felt a surge of white-hot protective rage that made his vision blur. He wanted to swing, to smash the lenses, to scream back, but he knew the headlines would only get worse if he did.

'Move! Fucking move!' Liam roared, shoving a path through the throng, his face inches from a photographer who refused to budge.

They burst through the restaurant doors, the sudden silence of the velvet-lined foyer ringing in their ears. The maître d' stood there, frozen, as the Gallagher brothers stood breathing hard, their children wide-eyed and shaking.

Sonny looked up at Noel, his face pale. 'Dad? Is Caroline addicted to drugs now?'

Noel looked at Liam, the question from Sonny felt like a glitch in the atmosphere. Everything went cold. Noel was still buzzing from the street, that jagged, electric adrenaline spike you get right before a fight.

Liam didn't hesitate. He didn't do the soft-voice, "let's talk about feelings" routine. He just stepped into the space, blocking Sonny's view of the doors with his own body.

'Listen to me, Sonny,' Liam said, his voice low and dead-serious. 'Those people out there? They're liars. They aren't real. They get paid to shout the most toxic shit they can think of because they want a reaction. They don't know Caroline, they don't know your Mum, and they don't know what happens behind our doors.'

'But the drugs...' Sonny started, his face pale.

'It's clickbait, mate,' Liam cut him off, his hand steady on Sonny's neck. 'They see someone looking tired or sick and they invent a story to get hits. It's all fake. You trust us, or you trust some loser with a long-lens camera?'

Sonny looked at Noel, searching for a crack in the armor. Noel forced his heart rate down, masking the soul-crushing guilt with a tired, steady smile. 'Uncle Liam's right. We aren't giving them the satisfaction of ruining our night. We're here for dinner, yeah? Let's just eat.'

The maître d' practically sprinted toward them, sensing the tension. 'Mr. Gallagher, your table is in the back corner. Totally private. Follow me.'

The restaurant was a different world, minimalist, expensive, and quiet. It felt weirdly hollow after the chaos outside. As they sat in a deep leather booth, Noel kept Bowie pressed against his side. She looked agitated, her small fingers obsessively smoothing out the pleats of her silver dress.

Noel opened the menu, but the letters were just black smears. Across the table, Liam was already signaling the waiter for a double Scotch.

'You good?' Liam muttered, leaning in while the kids distracted themselves with the fancy breadbasket.

'I'm going to erase them both, Liam,' Noel said, his voice a flat, dangerous rasp. 'The fact that my kids even had to hear Caroline's name in the same sentence as "drugs"...I'm going to burn both him and her whole world down.'

The table went quiet, but it wasn't a peaceful silence, it was the kind of heavy, static-filled air right before a storm breaks.

Noel noticed it first. Sonny wasn't looking at his menu; he was staring into his lap, the blue light of his phone illuminating a face that had gone completely ashen. His thumb was hovering, trembling, over the screen.

'Sonny, phone away. We're at dinner,' Noel said, his voice low, trying to maintain the "normal dad" frequency.

Sonny's thumb swiped, and then came the sound. It was faint but unmistakable: the distorted, high-pitched roar of the crowd they'd just walked through, punctuated by a robotic TikTok voice-over.

"Oasis frontmen Noel and Liam Gallagher spotted in Edinburgh amid rumors of a secret rehab stint for Caroline and a custody battle with ex Sara.."

Then, the audio cut to the raw footage.

"Did she overdose, Noel? Is she still on drugs?!"

The table went dead silent. Liam stopped talking mid-sentence. Noel felt a surge of cold, sharp nausea. Sonny didn't look up; he just stared at the loop of his own father, hunched over and shielding Bowie, while a stranger's voice analyzed their trauma for likes.

'Give me the phone, Sonny,' Noel said. His voice wasn't loud, but it had an edge that made the nearby waiter stop in his tracks.

'They're saying it's a "confirmed source," Dad,' Sonny whispered, his voice cracking. He finally looked up, and the confusion in his eyes was being replaced by a hard, bitter realization. 'They're saying Rob called the paps himself. That he somehow still has his grip on Caro..'

Bowie stopped fidgeting with her dress. She looked from Sonny to Noel, her bottom lip starting to tremble again 'Is Caro taken away?'

Noel slammed his hand on the table, making the silverware jump. 'Put the phone away, Sonny. Now.'

'I can't!' Sonny snapped, his frustration finally boiling over. 'It's everywhere! People are commenting on my last post asking if Mum is okay and if Caro is dead! I can't just pretend nothing's happening!'

Noel reached across the table and firmly took the phone from Sonny's hand, locking the screen and sliding it into his own pocket.

'Listen to me,' Noel said, leaning forward, his eyes locking onto Sonny's with an intensity that brooked no argument. 'The internet is a dumpster fire. It's where people go to be the worst versions of themselves for attention. Rob is a coward who's trying to drown us so he doesn't sink alone.'

He took a shaky breath, realizing the "sick with a bug" lie was officially dead.

'Caroline is struggling, yeah. She's had a hard time because of some bad choices Rob made for her. But she's not a "junkie," and she's not going anywhere. And as for your Mum..we're going to deal with that as a family. Not on TikTok.'

Noel didn't wait for the dessert menu. He just caught the waiter's eye, mimed writing on his hand, and threw a black Amex onto the table. The dinner was over in less than an hour and a half.

The walk back was a blur of neon and adrenaline. Noel kept his head down, his hand clamped on the back of Bowie's neck to keep her face hidden, while the other hand pulled Sonny close to protect him from the flashes. By the time they reached the suite, the damage was done. Sonny disappeared into his room without a word, the slam of the door echoing down the hall.

Noel ended up back on Liam's balcony, the Edinburgh wind biting at his face. He didn't even have the energy to light a cigarette.

'I'm out of my depth, Liam,' Noel admitted, his voice barely a whisper. 'I sat there tonight and I felt like an amateur. All those years Sara fought me about the kids coming on tour..I thought she was just being difficult. I thought she was trying to keep them from me.'

He let out a dry, hollow laugh. 'But she was right. This isn't a life for them. It's a circus, and I've just dragged them into the middle of the lion's den.'

Liam stood beside him, unusually quiet, just staring out at the castle.

'I don't know how I'm supposed to do this,' Noel continued, his voice cracking with a rare moment of total honesty. 'I've got a world tour..I've got stadiums waiting. I have to be the one who's got it all figured out. But then I look at Sonny shutting down, and Bowie crying, and Caroline..'

'She's broken, Liam. She's literally shaking apart in there because of that prick. How am I supposed to look after her, raise three kids who are being traumatized by TikTok, and play to 80,000 people a night? I can't be in three places at once. I'm not Superman.'

He looked at his hands, the same ones that held Caroline's while she shivered, the same ones that wrote the anthems the world screamed back at him. For the first time in his life, they felt useless.

'I'm going to fail someone,' Noel whispered. 'I can feel it. Either I fail the fans, or I fail Caro, or I fail my kids. There's no version of this where everyone comes out okay.'