FicWad

By five o'clock Ray's apartment was full. Bob and Mikey were the last to arrive because Bob's plane had been late. As soon as they were seated, Christa kissed Ray and told him she would be back later.
"You don't have to go" he told her quietly.
"Yeah, I do, this is a boys' meeting. I'm gonna grab some more stuff from my apartment and I'll be back later."
"Oh hey Christa, before you go I wanted to tell you that Jamia and I would like you and Ray to come over tonight. We have the DVD of Jamia's ultrasound and thought we'd share it." Frank said smiling.
Christa looked at Ray, "Sure if Ray's up to it."
"We'll be there" Ray assured his friend, "Wouldn't miss a viewing of the little Frankies or Frankettes for the world."
"All of you are invited." Frank said looking around the room. He seemed a little embarrassed, "if you want to see it."
Bob took the opportunity to get even with him for all the kidding Frank was always inflicting on everyone, "Oh hell, home movies of the kids already."
Frank looked over at him, "Yeah, it's kind of dumb, I mean you can't even really see much."
Bob laughed, "Frankie, I'm kidding. I want to see the little buggers and I know Kara will want to see them."
A smile lit up Franks face, "It's pretty fucking awesome. I'm still in shock about it all. We figured we'd share the DVD with our friends than pop in a movie and have pizza."
"I'm sure Monica will be up for it" Gerard said taking a paper that Brian was handing out.
No one seemed to notice that Mikey was sitting silently looking down at the paper in his hand.
"OK, this is the itinerary" Brian finished giving them all their own paper. "Matt is gonna be filling in for Ray. He would have been here but he already had plans. He knows most of the Revenge set. You'll have to trim only two songs."
Gerard looked over at Mikey waiting for him to speak. He wished he could make this easier for his brother. Brian sat back down and started to go over the lists.
"Uh, I need to tell you guys something." Mikey said sitting up and looking around the room. "I didn't tell you guys the whole story about what happened the night of the robbery."
He had everyone's attention and it made him uneasy. "Go ahead Mikey, tell them." Gerard gently prodded.
"You know there was two robbers. Well one of them knew who I was and started giving Alicia a hard time about being the girlfriend of a famous guy." He looked down and his voice dropped, "He said he wondered what kind of a fuck a famous guy got."
"Oh shit" Ray said getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Mikey looked down at the floor. "He locked the store and had the lights turned off so it looked like the place was closed. He wasn't happy just fucking robbing the place. He figured he had time...time to rape Alicia"
The room was silent. "Mikey he didn't?" Frank asked softly.
Mikey shook his head, "No, the fucker didn't. He tried to grab her but I wouldn't let go. Then he put the gun to my head and said he'd kill me and fuck her anyway." His voice cracked, "Alicia looked into my eyes and told me to let her go. She wanted me to let her go knowing the guy would rape her just so that I wouldn't be hurt."
"There wasn't anything you could do, bro" Gerard told him.
Mikey started at the floor, "He grabbed her and was gonna take her to the back room. The guy who works at Starbucks, he's a friend of Alicia's, he told them he had pulled a silent alarm and that they better get out. They took off."
Ray spoke softly, "Mikey, how is Alicia taking this?"
When Mikey looked at him his eyes were misty, "Not fucking good. She's angry, still scared and trying so fucking hard to be strong about it all for me." He took a deep breath, "She's always trying to be strong for me cause I'm so weak."
"Mikey you're not weak" Gerard said, "You've had some problems, fuck we've all had problems at one time of another."
"Yeah, well it's my turn to be strong for her. I have to be there for her, like she's always there for me." He looked at them all, "I can't go to Europe. She needs me and I'm gonna fucking be there for her."
The meeting that was supposed to take only an hour ended up taking over two. Mikey was touched by the understanding and support the guys gave him. At first they talked about scrapping the two weeks in Europe. Frank was against the idea, he didn't want to disappoint the "the kids" as he called the fans. Brain started wracking his brain how to handle it all. In the end it was decided to have Matt Cortez fill in for Mikey instead of Ray. Brian was gonna start making calls to find a replacement for Ray. They had several guys they all decided could fill the spot. Mikey also told them all about his plan to surprise Alicia. They were sworn to silence and all knew that they were to go along with the plan to make her believe he would be leaving with them Monday morning.
Gerard stayed behind when the others left. He wanted to talk to Ray about Liv and the message she had left for him. "So Ray, I heard you had a visitor who left a message for me." He figured there was no sense in beating around the bush about it.
Ray looked at him with a look of shock, "You've talked to Liv?"
Gerard shook his head, "No, she told Bert she visited you."
"Fuck, why is it always me that gets caught up in shit involving Liv?"
"I have no fucking idea, Ray. Why didn't you just tell me she came to see you?"
Ray looked uncomfortable, "Gee, you had almost lost Monica, the woman who really is the love of your life. I didn't think that you needed to deal with Liv right now." He sighed, "I'm sorry it really shouldn't have been my decision."
Gerard looked at his friend, "I almost lost you, too." He said quietly. "It's OK, Ray I'm not pissed." He looked down at the ground, "So tell me what did she say?"
Ray took a deep breath, "Her exact words were - /'Just tell him that I loved him and that I'm sorry'/."
That night when they all gathered at Frank's apartment Gerard told everyone that Brain wasn't feeling well and couldn't make it. In truth he was still working out the details for a replacement for Ray.
"This is so exciting" Kara said sitting by Jamia on the sofa and putting her hand over Jamia's stomach. She giggled when she felt the babies move.
Bob watched her and smiled. In a few years hopefully the situation would be reversed and it would be Kara's ultrasound they would be watching. The thought of making Kara his wife and her having his child made him incredibly happy and somewhat queasy.
"So should Bob do a drum roll or are you gonna play the DVD without one?" Gerard laughed. Everyone had gathered around the TV, many sitting on the floor. Gerard was sitting with his back against the sofa; Monica was sitting in front of him and leaning back against him.
Monica loved the feel of his arms around her. He had seemed distracted since he had returned after the band meeting. She didn't want to push him to talk about it but she was still concerned.
"Christa you are closest, can you push play?" Jamia asked.
"Oh I get the honor of starting the DVD" Christa smiled, "Everybody ready?"
"Hit the play button woman" Ray said throwing a toss pillow at her. She ducked the pillow and hit play before returning to Ray's side.
Jamia and Frank looked around at their friends and tried not to laugh at the surprised looks on their faces. Alicia even got up and moved closer to the screen. "Ok I think I need someone to point out what I'm looking at. I mean I can see the two babies, I think. Hey what's that?" She pointed to a very small shape.
Monica giggled and both Frank and Jamia looked over at her. "Is it what I think?" Frank asked her excitedly.
"I'm pretty sure it is." She said. "I never had a DVD of my girls. Back when I had them they only gave you a still picture. But I'm telling you neither of my girls had what that baby has."
Frank let out a yell, "Oh hell yeah."
Beside him Jamia giggled, "That little shape tells us it's a boy?"
Monica nodded, "Yeah that little tiny thing."
Bob laughed, "Oh hell, look Frank he takes after you."
The room exploded in laughter.