FicWad

Saturday morning after breakfast, Monica and the girls headed over to the hospital to see the new Iero twins. When they walked into Jamia’s room they saw that she was holding her daughter. Frank was in the chair holding his son. The babies’ blanket colors differentiated them.
“Hey, you guys.” Jamia smiled. “Glad you’re here.”
Kelly walked over to Frank and looked down at the baby in his arms. “Oh, he’s so small.” She gushed.
Elle nodded, “Berry mall.”
Frank laughed, “Yeah, but he’s gonna grow up to be six-foot.”
Jamia snorted, “Yeah, right.”
“Wanna hold him?” Frank asked Kelly.
She looked surprised, “Can I?”
“Sure.” He stood so she could sit down. “Hey Elle, why don’t you sit in the chair with Kelly and that way it will be like you both are holding him.”
“Otay.” Elle agreed happily. Once the girls were settled in the chair, Frank gently placed the baby in Kelly’s arms.”
Monica, who was standing by the bed smiled at them.
“Wanna hold my daughter?” Jamia asked her.
“Very much.” Monica took the baby from her and sat down in the other chair. She smiled down at the infant. “She’s so beautiful.”
“I’m gonna go make some calls and stretch my legs.” Frank announced moving towards the door.
“That means he’s gonna so take a smoke break.” Jamia said narrowing her eyes.
Frank grinned, “Maybe. Be back in a few minutes.”
“So what is the name of this beautiful girl?” Monica asked.
“We finally decided last night after everyone left.” Jamia explained. “We had been arguing about it for weeks. Then last night as we held them marveling at our beautiful children I asked Frank what he wanted to name his son. He said he wanted to name him, Joseph. That’s his grandpa’s middle name.”
“That’s very nice. I like that name.” Monica smiled, “And your daughter?”
Jamia grinned, “Frank asked me what I wanted to name her and it suddenly came to me. I wanted to giver her my grandma’s middle name. Madeline.”
“That’s a beautiful name.” Monica said stroking Madeline’s soft cheek with her fingertip.
“Yep, Maddy and Joe.” Jamia said happily.
“Hey, stop hogging the babies.” Alicia said walking into the room. “I want a turn.” She walked over to the bed followed by Christa.
“I was wondering where you guys were.” Jamia said. They had called earlier saying they would come by to visit.
Monica stood. “Would you like to hold Madeline?” She asked Alicia.
“Madeline?” She looked over to where Kelly and Elle sat with the other baby. “And who is that?”
“Joseph.” Jamia answered.
“Oh I like those names.” Christa said. She reached out for the baby in Monica’s arms. “I get to hold her first.”
Alicia nodded, “Fine, take your turn first. I need to talk to Monica for a minute.”
Monica handed the baby to Christa then looked over at Alicia. “What?”
“Let’s so for a walk.” She needed to talk to Monica in private.
Monica gave her a curious look then spoke to Kelly, “I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Sure Mom. Take your time. Bug and I don’t want to give Joe up yet.”
Elle nodded her agreement. “Mes ike em.”
Monica followed Alicia out into the hall. “What’s up?”
“Come on. Let’s find a quiet place to talk.” They ended up in the deserted waiting room. Once they were seated Alicia spoke. “Gerard called me last night.”
Monica sighed, “And?”
“He wanted me to tell you about something.”
Monica didn’t like the sound of this. “What?”
Alicia took a deep breath, “Eliza showed up over in Europe.”
“Oh.” Monica looked away, “I’m not really surprised. I’m sure she saw her chance to get back in with Gerard.”
“Exactly.” Alicia agreed. “That’s what she tried to do but Gee wanted me to tell you that he told her he never wants to see her again.”
Monica didn’t speak for several moments. Finally she asked, “So he wanted you to tell me about Eliza? Why?”
“He said he wanted me to tell you because he’s sure there will be some pictures surface.”
Monica’s heart sank, “Oh.”
“He didn’t want you to be hurt if you see them.”
“Why does he care if I’m hurt?” Monica asked feeling her temper rise. “What difference does it make to him? Shit, it’s not like I haven’t seen pictures of them together before.”
Alicia shook her head sadly, “That’s what I asked him? I said, why do you care?”
Monica looked down, “And?”
“He said he’s hurt you enough.”
“Yeah, he has.” Monica stood, “I have to get going.” The anger she felt was overwhelming.
Alicia reached up and took her hand, “He said he still loves you.”
Monica froze. So many emotions filled her. Finally she whispered, “I don’t believe that.”


Gerard walked into his hotel room intending to lay down for a nap. He hadn’t slept well last night and he was afraid that it would become an issue since they had a show in a few hours. He sat down on the bed and kicked off his shoes. His phone rang before he could lean back. When he saw who was calling he almost didn’t answer. With a sigh he connected.
“Hey, Bert.”
“Gee. What the fuck is going on? I just heard about you and Monica. After Liv’s funeral I was supposed to go back out to California to work on the album but I couldn’t. I needed to get away to deal with all the shit in my head. Tell me.” He demanded, “What the fuck? You broke up with Monica?”
Gerard reached for his pack of cigarettes. “I don’t want to talk about this.” He was bracing himself for the anger he was sure was to follow.
“Dude, what did Liv tell you?”
The question caught Gerard off guard. “What?”
Bert spoke softly, “I asked you what Liv told you.”
“I don’t understand.” Gerard frowned, “We were talking about Monica and me.”
“Yeah, we are still talking about that. I know how much you love Monica. Something happened when you came home to see Liv.”
“You think I broke up with Monica because of something Liv said?”
Bert decided to reveal the truth about what he knew. “Gee, I know about Liv and Mikey.”
Gerard sat in stunned silence.
“Before Liv died she was really out of it. The pain combined with the meds fucked her up. The night she died Monica had left the room for a few minutes and I sat with Liv. She opened her eyes but I could tell it wasn’t me she was seeing. She started saying how sorry she was about what she’d done. I was confused at first but then it started to dawn on me what she was saying.”
“Fuck.” Gerard closed his eyes, “Man, promise me you’ll never tell anyone.”
“I won’t.” Bert said, “But I don’t understand why you broke up with Monica. Was it because finding out fucked you up?”
Gerard took a deep drag, “Yeah, it fucked me up.”
Bert nodded to himself. “Does Monica know? I mean, man you gotta know she’d understand how this would fuck you up. I’m sure she’d understand.”
“Monica knows.” Gerard answered flatly.
“So why pull away from her? You need her.” Bert said. “I can’t believe she didn’t understand when you told her.”
“I didn’t tell her.” Gerard said softly.
Bert was confused, “So Liv told her?”
“Yeah, Liv told her.”
“I’m totally lost.” Bert let out a sigh, “I don’t understand.”
Gerard snuffed out his cigarette, “Monica didn’t tell me. It pissed me off.”
“What?” Bert lit a cigarette of his own.
“I overheard Liv telling Monica the morning I left.”
“Oh fuck.” The fog was starting to lift. “You heard Liv tell Monica.”
“Yeah, Liv didn’t tell me.”
“So you heard Liv tell Monica and what did you do?”
“Left the house.”
Bert could hear the pain in Gerard’s voice. “So you left. What then?”
Gerard reached for another cigarette, “I waited for Monica to tell me the truth.”
“And when she didn’t you got pissed at her?”
“I thought she would tell me. I hated that she kept Liv’s fucking secret from me.”
“But man, you can understand why she did, right? Fuck, think about it. She knew what this secret would do to you. She knew how bad it would fuck with your brain. To know that Mikey had been with Liv.”
“I see that now.” Gerard admitted softly. “Then, I couldn’t. I was so fucking hurt thinking about how my brother had been with Liv. That he could be Elle’s dad.”
“Shit.” Bert blew out a stream of smoke. “So you took all that pain and anger out on Monica?”
“Yeah, I did. I fucking ruined my life because of my anger.” Gerard said feeling his eyes mist over. “I fucked up my life because of Liv.”
Bert thought a moment then said softly “Don’t blame Liv for this. This is all on you.”
His words caused Gerard’s temper to flare. “You don’t understand.”
“Yeah, I do.” Bert snapped, “I do understand. You were hurt, shit you were devastated when you found out. But man, you took it out on the one person who would do anything in the world to protect you. She loves you. Don’t you get that? She didn’t tell you cause she fucking loves you so much.”
Gerard closed his eyes, “Yeah, I get that now. I didn’t then.”
“So what the fuck are you gonna do? You just gonna lose everything without trying to make it right?” Bert asked.
“How can I even begin to expect her to forgive me?” Gerard’s voice shook. “I can’t forgive myself.”
Bert sat back in his chair and thought a moment. “When you getting back?”
“We’ll be back on Thursday.”
Bert nodded, “Than if I was you, I’d be doing a lot of soul searching. Come to terms with the ghosts from your past then let them go once and for all. Then try to get your fucking life back.”
Gerard lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, “Yeah.” He whispered, “That’s what I should do but I don’t know if I can.”


Authors Note - Once again chapters won't go in the right order. I will have to start a new story and call it "Love Knows No Age - Continued Again" Thanks for following along. It means the world to me.