"Because I'm shocked by the power, shocked by the power of love."

[likefatherlikeson]

Who: Justin, Mark Campbell and Gen Hart (+ Sunshine)
What: Epic Surprises!
Where: Sydney Opera House
When: Friday night (Aussie time)

They had a little bit of time to kill before the show and before people began to pile into the Opera House, they took advantage to see some of the interior and the views of the Harbour. Justin was mostly just walking around in a permanent state of shock that he was about to go on stage and perform at one of the most well-known theatre venues in the whole world... and a place that was part of his own heritage and blood. More and more, he was becoming aware of his Aussie roots. He had an innate connection to this place. It made him feel at peace. The beach and the sunsets could put him into almost a complete state of calm, a balance he couldn't get anywhere else with the bipolar having him often teetering between his moods.

Then his dad was chatting to him on Facebook, and there was a mention of a present delivered to his dressing room. It was time to get back there anyway so that costuming and make-up could pwn him to make sure everything was perfect. These last three nights of performing in Sydney were huge. They were VIP shows, and beyond competitions winners and charity recipients, there were going to be a lot of big names in the audience. Not to mention reviewers and journalists covering the show. It was no wonder the nerves had flared up inside him. This was one of those times the stage fright would kick in to full capacity, no doubt.

Things were hitting crazy stations when he got backstage again and he was bracing himself to get pounced at any minute. He could have his diva moments, but mostly he just let everyone do their jobs so he was prepared to do his. "J, final sound check in thirty," one of the sound managers told him as he walk past and he nodded when he headed into his dressing room. As soon as he got in there, there was a shout of, 'SURPRISE!' and he jumped with a slight scream of shock at the sudden surprise and stumbled back a little. It was a miracle he didn't pee his pants.

Standing in the dressing room was his dad holding Jamie, Gen, Will, his grandparents, his Uncle Sam, his Uncle James and Nat, Paris and Michael, and Kolbie and Toby... somehow all managing to fit into the room. He got such a fright with very, very unexpected surprise that when the penny dropped a moment or two later that they were all actually there, he promptly burst into tears because he couldn't believe it.

Comments

[aussielawyer]

It hadn't exactly been easy to navigate getting everyone here, but ultimately, nothing was more important to any of them that particular night. For the Aussies amongst them even more so, because Justin was playing at their iconic landmark and it was beyond incredible to think about. Like any of them were going to miss it. In fact, Mark was absolutely 100% adamant he wasn't going to miss his son performing at the Opera House, that he threatened to forge a medical clearance to fly. Ultimately, Sam came through for him and he did still have to take it easy, but there was no way in fucking hell Mark would miss this. Even Ali, Andrew and Jack had come over, but there was no way they would've fit in there. It had been a huge surprise for everyone to try to keep, but they had all been fantastic with it. Justin had no idea. Will had confirmed that to Mark the night before in text messages, insisting that Justin had absolutely no idea of any of it. He just thought they had the last three big shows to do, it would be crazy, and then he could go home. When Caden had told Mark the show would be playing at the Opera House to close the Aussie run, Mark said he wanted front row tickets for his family, no matter how much they cost. Price wasn't an issue.

Seeing Justin's reaction, it was obvious Will's deduction had been spot-on. Not that anyone wanted to make Justin cry, but they were shocked/happy tears and Justin was, in general, always a highly emotional kid having a mood disorder. Mark laughed when he went over to Justin and pulled him into a hug... which meant Sunshine was immediately wrapping her arms around Justin too. "Hey, it's okay, kiddo," he said, rubbing Justin's back. It was an amazing moment, with them all having known so very deeply the pain Justin had suffered through, and how tough life could be for him in general. They had all wanted to be there for this moment. It took a little while before everyone hugged a teary Justin, and everyone else (including Mark) was tearing up with him. They did soon filter out, promising to see him more after the show, and it just left Mark, Gen and Sunshine there with him. Mark stooped his head a little so he could see Justin's face and wiped some of the tears away with his thumb. "You didn't think we were going to miss this, did you, mate?" Then he was hugging him again and kissing his head. "We missed you like you wouldn't believe."

[asskickingblahniks]

This surprise had been perfectly pulled off, and it was absolutely clear that Justin hadn't had even an inkling that his family might show up for this. Gen wasn't Aussie herself, but she knew what a big deal the Opera House was, and why it was so important to Mark and his family to get to be here for Justin when he performed here. Pulling it off as a surprise had taken a lot of planning, and a lot of checking in with Will, and Mark had managed to pull it all off without a hitch, and then there was their beloved teenage son crying tears of happiness and shock, and Gen couldn't help it. She was crying, too. She had never been much of a crier before becoming a wife and a mom. She wasn't emotionless by any means, but just not quite this emotional. But this was her son, as much as if she'd carried him inside her and given birth herself, and she carried him in her heart, even if she'd never carried him inside her body. And his tears brought hers on in full force.

Once Mark and Sunshine had gotten their long hugs in, Gen playfully gave her husband a pout. "If you'll excuse me, I'd like to have a hug myself," she teased, moving close to wrap Justin in her arms and kiss him on both cheeks. "Our son performing in the Opera House? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and your dad wasn't having any of that 'Well, there'll be a DVD' business. He was telling every flight attendant we came into contact with that he was coming to see his son perform at the Opera House." She reached into her handbag for tissues and got one for herself and one for Justin before she was hugging him again. "God, we missed you, kiddo. The house isn't the same when you're not there." And it was true. When Justin was well, he brought a level of light and life into their home that couldn't be matched by anything else. When he was well, and they had Sunshine, too? It was probably the happiest house in the world.

[likefatherlikeson]

Justin knew that he had, all along, been trying to push down an anxiety and disappointment that his parents couldn't be here for this Footloose run in Australia. But he knew his dad had been really sick the past couple of months and it was important he rested and took care of himself. He was only working a couple of days a week at the office, and not even full hours. He did more work from home, but he had to stay chilled because there would be risk of scarring on his heart if he the infection came back, which would lead to more heart attacks. Everyone knew what heart attacks could mean, and it terrified Justin to think he might lose his dad. But this? He couldn't have seen it coming. He was actually a bawling mess because of the shock, but mostly because he hadn't wanted to wish his family could be here because it would make him homesick and upset, and he didn't want to be upset in case it messed with his mental illness and he couldn't perform here. Even if he crashed for the next six months, he wanted to be able to pull these three weeks off and not miss a show.

He didn't even have the ability to talk initially. He was completely and utterly speechless. The only thing that really dragged him out of it was Jamie trying to get his attention excitedly and was almost doing a backflip in her dad's arms to try to get to Justin. Mark was trying to calm her down by saying Justin had to work and they could play after the show, but she wasn't having a bar of it. She was definitely a Campbell with a mix of Ali's genes. "It's okay," Justin finally said with a tearful laugh and took his sister from his dad. He was immediately engulfed in an enthusiastic little sister hug and his face was showered with loving kisses. "Oh my god, it's lucky you guys got me before Lewis did, or I would be on the rude end of a bitchslap right now for ruining his work. How did you do this without me knowing? I can't believe this. I just... I... fu--" He didn't even get a chance to finish swearing before he found his dad's hand over his mouth and got a pointed Dad Look. So, Justin did the only thing a teenage boy would do in that situation... licked his dad's palm.

[aussielawyer]

Jamie was usually such a cruisy, laidback kid. She definitely had Aussie blood running through her veins. She had a mixed accent of English and Aussie, but spoke more with an Aussie twang because of Mark and Andrew. Lately, Mark had been hearing Justin speak with the same Australian edge to his words, though the kid probably didn't notice it himself. Other people did, though. If there was one thing in this world that got Jamie in Energizer Bunny mode, it was her brothers. Especially Justin. When he had first come into their lives, Jamie thought it was like all her Christmases had come at once. She had just adored him. Even more beautiful, though, was that she knew Justin was sick. She was a very tender-hearted kid and there had been this thing where, when Justin was depressed, she would come around and he would read stories with her even if he could barely function in any other way. All this was the epitome of why Mark knew that his main purpose in this world was his kids.

She had gotten her birthday present early for this trip. She wanted to wear her 'Justin shoes' to the show and that's exactly what she was wearing. She had chatted the whole way over about seeing Justin and her first trip to 'Strayla' and told people her brother was Footloose. She was at that age where she was taking absolutely everything in, so if Justin was going to drop the F-bomb around her, you could guarantee she would be repeating it back at the most awkward moments and Ali would have Mark's balls. "And people actually ask me if you're really sixteen," Mark said with a snort of amusement, wiping his hand on his chest. "Watch your language. You don't want your dad separated from important parts of his anatomy, do you? We did it by talking to each other as much as we could when you weren't around. Which was a workable solution because you were so busy, and when you weren't, you were out so cold, Jeff actually practised the entire Footloose dance routine in his undies in the hotel room bathroom and you didn't wake up. We know because he accidentally sent the video to his entire contact list instead of just his boyfriend," he said in amusement, draping his arm around Justin's shoulders and giving him a soft squeeze.

[asskickingblahniks]

There was no restraining the giggles when Jamie was near going crazy for her big brother. Gen and Mark had her at their place a lot, Ali and Mark agreeing that she should spend time with both parents now that Mark and managed to dislodge his head from his asshole. And Justin having been in Australia was hard on the little girl, who adored her big brother with all her heart. But getting to go to Australia herself and see Justin and her Grandma and Grandpa Campbell was almost more excitement than she could stand. Seeing the little one kissing her brother made Gen feel like her heart was full to bursting, and she just shook her head, grateful she'd worn waterproof mascara. This was such a big night, and a proud moment for their whole family, and Gen was more proud than she knew how to put into words. Once Jamie was securely in her brother's arms, Gen was at Mark's side, her arm tight around her husband's waist as she kissed his cheek. "I gotta hand it to you, Campbell," she teased him. "You make pretty babies."

"He's not kidding," Gen added with a grin of amusement. "We all saw Jeff in his undies. But it looks like you've done well teaching him the moves at least," she joked, laughing lightly. "Will and his family and your grandparents all co-conspired to make this happen. There was a hell of a lot of sneaking around going on, but like your dad said... You've been working your ass off and sleeping whenever you've had time, so we made it happen. Did you honestly think your dad was going to be able to miss out on his son performing at a veritable Aussie landmark like the Opera House?" She was proud herself. This was a huge part of Mark's heritage, and as such, of Justin's too, and she knew how much it meant to Justin to get in touch with his Aussie roots, now that he knew that he had them.

[likefatherlikeson]

Sunshine was playing with the studs lining the seams of the sleeves of Justin's leather jacket. She was a tactile child, liked different textures and touching things. She was Playdoh's biggest fan, loved finger painting, and doing kids craft things. Justin knew this because her weekends with them, he usually ended up playing with her. It was natural for him to do that and spend time with her, because he wanted to make up for lost time not knowing her from when she was born. His dad asked him once in the relatively earlier days of him arriving in New York, if he was okay with spending the time with Jamie that she wanted of him. He had just fallen so easily into being a big brother, like he was meant to be that all along. Jamie's little touches also acted as sort a gentle stroking of him, like she was petting him as she would a baby animal. That wasn't unusual either. It was like when she was on her daddy's lap, she would put her little hands on his face or play with his hair. If Justin was ill, she would kiss his head and pat his arm. There were often jokes that she would grow up to be a doctor or a nurse one day. "Justie, did you see the koalas? Did you hold one? Did you? Did you?!" she was asking him excitedly.

He was laughing, because he just couldn't help himself. "No, I didn't. But you know what? Maybe we can see them together? There's a pretty awesome zoo just across the water from here where you can hold them and have you picture taken with them. They have kangaroos too, and giraffes, and penguins." He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and brought up the Taronga Zoo website on it for Jamie and gave it to her to look at the animals they had there. "I can't take all the credit for that. Kyan's been spending a lot of time with him too, which does take some of the weight off me. It's going to be weird not having Kyan around, but when we go home after this, he starts preparing for opening of Dirty Dancing in January. I've been getting really tired this past week. This is just... I can't believe this! I don't know how you did it all. There I was thinking I've got a close eye on everything going on, but now apparently I didn't know nothing," he said with a laugh of disbelief. "We have a charity thing planned for Halloween too, and you'll be here for it!"

[aussielawyer]

Mark was just beaming. He was pretty proud of himself for making such awesome kids, even if he did say so himself. No, none of this was easy to pull off, but it was all completely and utterly worth it. It was Jamie's first trip to Australia, and she would stay on with Ali and Andrew to spend time with Andrew's Aussie family here while Mark and Gen flew back to New York with Justin and the rest of the group. As much as it would have been fun to stay on longer, Justin really needed to rest. Through their Skype conversations, Mark and Gen had been able to see and hear in Justin that he was tiring out. He was holding up well, but come the end of the run of the show here, they wanted to get him home so he could switch off and rest for awhile so it didn't trigger another bipolar episode. Mark wasn't physically well enough to be running around Sydney sightseeing with his family either, but he knew a trip to the zoo was inevitable. Jamie loved animals, and so did Justin. In fact, every time Justin chatted to them on Skype, one of the first things he asked was how his puppy, Dory, was, who Mark and Gen had been babysitting while Justin was away. She was now in the very capable hands of Angel, Rose, Beau, Austin and Daisy, proving to be some nice therapy for Rose also. He always got this indescribable feeling of love when he watched his kids and he remembered all over again how proud he was to be their father. In many ways, this was just the most unbelievable twist of circumstances he could never have seen coming in his life a few years back. Now he had gone from just a workaholic existence day in, day out, to living and breathing for his family.

"I think Kyan is truly grateful to you for helping paving his way to that, kiddo. Trey has told me many times that Kyan working with you has been the most incredible experience in his career, and taken him places he never thought he was capable of." He laughed and rubbed Justin's back. "And don't you worry about that. Keeping a secret from you was probably the hardest thing a lot of us have had to try to pull off in a long time. Will started to get all worried how he would manage to still keep it a secret when he went to stay with you at the hotel, and then realised you really were sleeping a lot or you were being pulled from pillar to post with PR stuff or other bookings. It was easy for him to keep us all up-to-date on you not being aware of everything. Flying us all over here was roughly like that scene in Home Alone trying to get all the kids together, and still managing to lose someone. Luckily for us, we had a PA and a Nanny in our brood, so everything was kept in order. Caden kept you busy with a cast meeting and a couple of interviews while we were flying so you didn't think anything was up when we weren't communicating while we were in transit."

[asskickingblahniks]

Watching Justin with Sunshine for Gen was similar to watching him on stage. He was as much born to be a big brother as he was to be a performer, and Gen couldn't have been prouder of him in either of those roles. The joy of being a dad was written all over Mark's face, too, and it was probably one of the things that had truly solidified her feelings for him. His kids were his pride and joy, and he did everything in his power to be a great father to them to the best of his ability. It was gorgeous to see, and even more so just how close Justin and Jamie were, too. Gen loved seeing the two of them together. Justin was Jamie's hero, and she adored him with all of her heart. It was a sweet dynamic, and no matter how tired or sick he might get, Justin always tried to do his best to spend time with his little sister. Of course, there would be times that wasn't possible but if it was, he would make it happen. There was no surprise to Gen that Sunshine was asking about the animals, either. "Maybe we can go together once Justin's done with work before we go back home?" Gen suggested. The zoo was always a favorite stop for the family when in Australia, and she knew Sunshine would be super excited about it, since she'd never been, and Aussie animals were her favorites.

"Your dad's right," Gen reassured him. "It's not like we ran circles around you here. It was a well-planned operation, or we never would've gotten it past you. But you've been really busy around the place." She couldn't help her own laughter as she watched her husband, son, and stepdaughter laughing together. They made a gorgeous picture in front of her of a life she'd never dreamed of, but had totally fallen in love with in every conceivable way. "If this hadn't gone off as well as it did, you probably would've known right away, kiddo. But tell us about the charity event! What are you guys doing?"