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Chapter 2

“Gerard…” Frank whispered, pulling Gerard into his arms.

Gerard just stood there, trying to absorb the words Frank had just spoken. His mind was blank.

Mom… cancer…

“I… I don’t…” Gerard didn’t even know what he was trying to say.

Frank just held his husband tighter. “It’s okay, baby. It’s going to be okay.”

Gerard still couldn’t quite figure out what was going on, but what he did know was that it wasn’t going to be okay.

“I need to talk to my brother.” he choked out. “I need to talk to Mikey.”

Frank picked up the phone and handed it to Gerard, who began to dial with shaking fingers. His brother’s voice answered on the first ring.

“Gerard?” Mikey sounded tired and upset.

Gerard didn’t know what to say. The connection between his brain and mouth wasn’t working. No words would come. Gerard opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. He managed to make a few meaningless sounds before bursting into tears.

“Please stop crying.” Mikey sounded like he was on the verge of tears himself.

“M-Mom.” Gerard tried to stifle his sobs. “Is Mom okay?”

“For now, yes.” Mikey said unconvincingly.

Gerard sat on the arm of the couch and closed his eyes, tears still streaming down his face. “What are we gonna do? What can we do?”

Mikey was silent for a few seconds. “I guess… the best thing we can do is just be with her while she battles this.”

There was a beeping noise on Mikey’s end of the call. “Hold on.” he said. A second later, a third voice was added to the call.

“Mikey? What’s going on?” Ray asked, sounding just as stressed as Mikey. “Frank left me a voicemail saying to call you or Gerard and..”

“Hi, Ray.” Gerard said weakly.

“I’m here, too.” Mikey added.

“What’s going on?” Ray repeated urgently.

“Donna has c-cancer.” Gerard told the guitarist, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” Ray said before hanging up.

“Thank you, Ray.” Gerard whispered, though he knew that Ray wouldn’t hear him.

“Band meeting?” Mikey asked.

Gerard pulled Frank towards him with his free arm. Frank rested his head on his husband’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

“Yes, but we’re not meeting as a band. We’re meeting as a family.” Gerard replied.

--

Ray and Christa thanked Gerard quietly as he poured them a glass of wine. Christa gazed at Gerard with sorrow-filled eyes, but didn’t say a word.

Suddenly, the elevator doors slid open and Mikey burst in to the apartment, carrying a sleeping Lily and an energetic Cherry. Bandit gave the group a solemn nod and took a seat on the couch next to Frank.

“Daddy, today we did finger painting and I did a picture of me and Lily playing dolls!” Cherry waved a sticky piece of paper at Gerard.

“Very pretty,” Gerard said fondly.

“Uncle Mikey said you would hang it on the refrigagator!” Cherry exclaimed. Gerard couldn’t help but smile at his daughter’s pronunciation of refrigerator. She ran over to Ray and Christa. “Look, Uncle Ray!” she placed the messy paper on his lap.

“Good job, Cherry!” Ray said approvingly, handing the artwork back to the child. The paint was still slightly wet, and a drop of blue paint dripped to the floor.

“Bandit,” Frank said softly, “Can you go play with the twins somewhere? We need to have a quick meeting.”

Bandit nodded and stood up. “Cherry, Lily, let’s go play.” she led Cherry and a groggy Lily down the hallway and into the toy room.

Even without the kids in the room, the adults remained silent. What was there to say? Frank leaned on Gerard, staring blankly ahead at a picture of Bandit on the wall. Ray stared at Mikey, who stared at his brother, who was staring at the coffee table and stroking his husband’s hair absentmindedly.

It was Mikey who finally broke the silence by crying.

“Mikes…” Gerard lept up from the couch and pulled his younger brother into his arms. The blonde was trembling violently.

“Everything will be alright.” Frank added, joining the hug. Ray was quick to follow.

For a few minutes, the band just stood there, embracing each other. They all had an unspoken bond with one another, and they could feel each other’s pain. When one of them was hurting, everybody else hurt too.

Then Frank pulled away from the hug. “What are we doing? Standing here and sniveling and feeling bad for ourselves isn’t going to help Mikey and Gerard’s mom.”

Gerard nodded slowly, wiping the tears from his eyes. “He’s right. I haven’t even called my mom yet.”

Mikey looked ashamed. “We should be taking care of her, not each other.”

Frank turned to Gerard and put a hand on his shoulder. “We need to be there for her. We need to be with her. We… we need to move back to New Jersey.”

Uproot Bandit and the twins from their home? Leave the city? Gerard looked at Frank with wide eyes. Frank just raised an eyebrow. Gerard whirled around to look at Mikey.

“I agree with Frank.” he said softly.

Gerard knew that the right thing to do would be to move, but he didn’t want to leave his home. He didn’t want his children to have to start at a new school. Sure, they were young, but new places are difficult for anybody… But his mom needed him and his brother.

“Okay.” he said.

Christa whispered something to Ray, who nodded and whispered something back. “We’re coming, too.” he announced.

“Fuck, guys.” Gerard said, smiling and wiping another tear away. “Thank you.”

“You’re my second family, guys, and families stick together.” Ray said, looking at each band member as he spoke.

“You’re like the brothers I never had.” Christa said, smiling fondly.

“Does New Jersey have libraries?” a small voice asked. Everybody turned to see Bandit hovering at the edge of the living room.

“Oh, Bandit.” Gerard lifted his daughter above his head.

“Put me down, Dad!” Bandit squealed, kicking and giggling. Gerard set her down on the floor and ruffled her dark hair.

“Hundreds of libraries.” he told her.