FicWad

"What the hell happened?" Mikey asked walking into the kitchen. He looked around at all the open windows in the house and the lingering smoke.
"Gerard was making me breakfast" Kelly answered. "He had a little trouble." Monica thought it was cute how Kelly was trying to cover for Gee.
"Shit, Gee you set the house on fire," Mikey said spotting his brother. "You can't cook everyone knows that. Oh, man where's mom."
Gerard shot a look at his brother that wasn't full of love, "She's not here right now. So shut up, if we can clear out the smoke she won't know"
Alicia came in "Holy shit, what's on fire?"
"Is everyone OK?" Bob asked following in her footsteps.
"Gee was cooking breakfast," Mikey told them with a grin. The three of them started laughing at the same time.
"Don't you have a plane to catch, Bob?" Gerard asked. Just his luck they showed up now.
Bob tried to stop laughing, "Yea, I do. Where is Kara?"
"She went to get her coat" Gerard answered. She walked in the kitchen and into Bob's arms.
"I opened all the windows in the living room," she told Gerard. "And the dining room windows."
"It was an accident. He was doing really good but the kitchen towel was too close to the burner" Kelly told them. She didn't like them making fun of Gerard.
Monica smiled "Could have happened to anyone."
"Monica, Monica, obviously you haven't heard about Gee's skills in the kitchen. Growing up mom banished him from the kitchen. This is not the first fire he has started while trying to cook. The man is a menace. Once mom told him to make a piece of toast for her. Just a piece of toast. Somehow the toaster caught on fire. Dad picked it up with hot pads and tossed it into the backyard. The neighbors all loved that." Mikey told the story gleefully.
"It wasn't my fault. Damn toaster just burst into flames." He narrowed his eyes and looked at his brother. "Do you really want to start telling stories about toasters and bath tubs Mikey?"
Immediately Mikey stopped laughing, "No, I don't" He put his arm around Alicia and smiled "Ready to go"
"Nice topic change" Gerard told him with a smile. "You kids just run along and send Bob packing."
They all said their good-byes and soon only Gerard, Monica and Kelly stood in the kitchen, which because of the open windows was becoming quite frosty. "What time will mom be home?" Gerard asked
"She said she wouldn't be home until dinnertime," Kelly answered.
The phone rang and they all stared at it. "Oh shit I just know that's mom. Ever since I was little whenever I did something bad she just knew. Her mom radar has gone off and she is homing in on me."
Kelly looked at him and shook her head. Poor Gerard she knew what it was like to be busted by your mom. "Let me take care of this" She crossed the kitchen and lifted the receiver. "Hi Donna how's it going?"
"No, I'm not here alone they are still here." She grabbed a pan and handed it to Gerard. She put her hand over the mouthpiece and whispered, "Drop this".
He just stared at her. She frowned and whispered again "Drop it on the floor"
He shrugged and let the pan drop.
"Oh that noise, Gerard dropped a pan. He's kind of clumsy today."
"Yea everything is fine. See you later, bye"
Monica stared at her daughter "Just what was all that about?"
Kelly smiled "I didn't want Gerard to get into trouble. I knew you had hung up the phone before the smoke detector went off so she didn't know about that. But she had heard the loud crash and that was why she asked you what was going on." She took a deep breath. "See mom I didn't want to lie to Donna cause I love her. But I didn't want Gerard to get into trouble so I thought if she asked about the crash I could say he dropped a pan. Which as you just saw, he really did"
Gerard burst out laughing, "That is so good. Man, Kelly I owe you one. Thanks for helping me out" He gave he a big hug.
"Kelly" she was going to lecture her about being truthful but suddenly it was all just so funny. "Oh hell, at least the smoke is clearing out"
"I have an idea" Gerard grinned "How about I take you guys out for breakfast?"
Kelly giggled, "That does seem safer"
Monica agreed "Definitely safer"
They decided to leave the windows open until the got back from breakfast. They piled into Monica's old clunker of a car and took off to the International House of Pancakes. Once seated they looked over all the choices.
"Can I have blueberry pancakes?' Kelly asked
"Honey you can have anything you want" Gerard told her. "You saved me from the Wrath of Mom."
"I'm sure Donna would have understood?" Monica was trying to be the voice of reason.
Gerard continued to peruse his menu. "Nope she would be pissed. Mikey wasn't kidding I'm never supposed to set foot in the kitchen if I'm planning on cooking something. Mom has made that very clear"
The waitress appeared and they all recited their orders. Kelly looked down at the table and sighed.
'What's wrong?" Monica reached across the table and clasped her hand.
"Nothing really I guess I'm just sort of missing Kansas. I love it here and all but sometimes I miss silly things. Like the hay loft in the barn, or the wild flowers down by the pond." She frowned "I hate that pond. If it hadn't been there Daddy would still be alive"
Gerard and Monica both froze. He glanced at her but her face had gone white. He reached for her hand but she moved it away too quickly. She found her voice, "Honey it was just daddy's time. If it hadn't been the pond it could have been a car crash. People die when it's there time."
"But if we had just been home. It was snowy what if it had been a snow day? Then we would have been there to save him. What if you hadn't gone to the store then you would have been there to save him"
Gerard felt her flinch. He moved closer in the booth to her and draped is arm around her. He could feel her trembling.
"You know I used to do the same thing" He told Kelly "I used to play the 'what if game'. What if the cartoon I was working on before MCR had been picked up by Cartoon Network? Then there would never have been a My Chemical Romance. Things happen the way they are supposed to happen.
Thankfully the waitress appeared with their order. Kelly dug into hers. Monica took a deep breath trying to focus but her mind was on the verge of a anxiety attack. She knew the horrible feeling that engulfed her when one was coming.
Gerard tilted her face to his, "Monica look at me" His tone was smooth, "Calm down and breathe. It's going to be OK." He realized what was happening to her.
Kelly looked up and knew something was wrong. "Mom are you going to have an anxiety attack? I'm sorry if it's my fault. I shouldn't have been talking about daddy."
Monica's eyes were wide and her heart was pounding. Gerard kept talking to her in a smoothing tone "Everything is fine. Every thing is fine. Just breathe slowly." He held her tightly until her heartbeat began to slow.
About fifteen minutes passed before she could talk "I'm Ok now. It's better." She gave Kelly a shaky smile. "Sorry honey" she told her.
"Mom, I'm sorry" Kelly looked like she was going to cry. Gerard reached across the table and touched her cheek "Hey, It's OK. Not your fault. Your mom is going to be fine."
"Thank you for talking me through" Monica took several deep breaths. She still didn't feel great but better. "How did you know what was happening to me?"
Gerard smiled sadly "Mikey has had them. They would happen to him while we were on stage. Shit, I felt so helpless because I wanted to help him but what could I do?" He forced a smile "OK everything is gonna be fine now. I think the three of us should hang together today."
Kelly smiled at him. "What are we going to do?" She still looked on the verge of tears.
"We will do anything you want, sweetie". He really meant it. He would do anything to for them.