FicWad

"Where are we going?" Emma asked from the backseat, of Charlotte's car.

"My mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We're not gonna eat for another two hours or so but all my family will be there to "entertain" us until then."

"Oh," Emma went back to looking outside the window.

Charlotte turned on the car radio. They listened to Papa Roach, some Green Day, and the Misfits. After Basket Case faded out, a man's voice announced, "and that was Basket Case by Green Day. Up next, Helena by My Chemical Romance." Gerard turned up the volume as far as it would go. Charlotte looked back at Emma who was still looking out the window, with no interest in the music at all. She realized Emma didn't know Gerard was famous and probably never heard the song. She flashed Gerard a smile.

After the song ended, Gerard clapped his hands immensely and pretended to wipe away a tear. "Wow, that band rocks! And you know the lead singer is pretty hot." He rubbed his elbow up against Charlotte's as she quietly laughed. Emma's puzzled look made Gerard chuckle.

"Hey, Emma. Did you like that song?" Gerard asked.

"Yeah, but it was really loud." Loud laughs erupted in the car.

"Guess who sang it?" Gerard asked playfully.

"Who?" they laughed even more at Emma because she still had no idea Gerard could sing.

"Me!" Gerard screeched in a high pitched voice.

"Huh?"

"I know I totally rock!" he threw his head back and laughed once more.

"Gerard's band is pretty famous. Aren't you guys going on tour soon?"

"Yeah, I'll be gone for about a month and a half. We leave the week after Christmas." he sounded sad at the thought of leaving.

"Oh," the girls said simultaneously.

"But that's not for a while so let's make sure the time we have left special," he tried to keep there spirits up but it just wasn't working. This was a blow to both of them. Charlotte knew he'd be gone for a while but she didn't really think about too much until the word came from Gerard's mouth. How would she go on without him? She was falling hard for Gerard, hopefully he felt the same.

"Alright we're here." Gerard broke her trance-like state. They arrived at the house they went to, the night they met Emma.

"Gerard, hey! Happy Thanksgiving, man!" someone yelled from the front door. It was Bob with Frank at his side. They were both taking a smoke, but Frank put his out when he saw Emma hop out of the car. Bob did the same.

"I don't think we've had the pleasure to meet. I'm Bob, at your service." Bob bowed when he came up to Emma." "Hi! Charlotte, right?" She nodded then Frank came.
"How you doing, I'm Frank," he waved to Emma. It was evident he didn't really know how to talk to kids, but Emma went along with it.

"May I be so luck as to escort a lovely lady to the party?" Bob said in an English accent. He held out his arm for Emma to link, just like Gerard had done at the hospital, and they walked into the house.

"Who's the kid?" Frank asked bluntly.

"That's Emma, long story short, we found her on the streets and decided to take her in."

"So you two are like a couple now?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna move in with her and we're both gonna take care of Emma."

"What?"

"Aw, you'll hear it a billion times tonight. There's definitely gonna be a lot of questions popping up about the three of us." Gerard put his arm around Charlotte and led her through the doorway.

A small living room crammed with people came to view. Two couches were crammed with people sitting on them. About ten people had to stand since there was nowhere else to rest. As soon as they walked in, everyone recognized that they had entered with a wave or a "Hey, Gerard."

"Gerard! Where've you been? And who is this?" a woman older looking woman looked Gerard over.

"Ma, this is Charlotte, my girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you ,dear. I'm so glad to see my son has found a new love interest. I'd hate to see him die alone," she smiled. "I'm Donna, come to me at any time if you ever need anything, but right now I need to work on the dinner," and she rushed off through a pair of swinging doors before Charlotte could offer to help with the preperations.

"Gerard, my favorite nephew, well next to Mikey anyways," a man not much older than Donna walked over.

"Uncle Arthur! How are you?" Gerard pulled Arthur into a friendly hug.

"I'll be just fine when I find out who this young lady is!" he motioned to Charlotte.

"Uncle Arthur, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Charlotte. Charlotte this is my Uncle Arthur." Charlotte smiled and Gerard's uncle pulled her hand up to his lips.

"How do you do?" he asked while slightly bowing his head.

"Fine and you?" she replied.

"Just great, now you two mingle. Talking with an old geezer, like me, will only sell you less albums."

"Alright, Uncle, I'll see you soon." they all smiled and slowly walked away from each other.

For the next twenty minutes, everyone in the room socialized with one another. Charlotte bumped int Ray, which scared her at first, but relaxed when she saw his sweet side. During the entire party, everyone laughed, talked, and there was even some dancing involved. Bob and Emma decided to be the first on the dance floor and do a little waltz. A couple of others people joined them and everyone had a good time! Time just seemed to fly by!

"Dinner's ready!" Donna announced.

Everyone walked into the dining room and dug into a large buffet of your average, traditional Thanksgiving dinner. After taking all the food they could fit onto their plates, most of the people retreated back to the living room, when some stayed and ate on the long, wooden, dining room table. Gerard and Charlotte stayed in the dining room while Emma followed Bob out to the living room. They really seemed to be bonding.

"So Gerard, all night you've been avoiding this question, but I think it's about time you've gotten around to answering it. Who is Emma and where did she come from?" Donna asked. She loved how she could just come out and say what was on her mind.

"Well, we found Emma in the same cemetery grandma was buried in, mourning the loss of her mother. So Charlotte and I took her in, then she ran away and that's when we both got in the hospital from the car crash, then we loved Emma so much me and Charlotte have decided to move into Char's place and raise Emma." The room went silent.

Mikey and up from their dinner and looked at them. Gerard's cousins from New York stopped joking around and turned all their attention to Gerard. "Now, Gerard," Donna started. "Are you sure about this? You and Charlotte just met, and raising a child off the streets can be so much trouble!"

"Yeah I know, Ma, but Emma is a really good kid and I think me and Charlotte can handle it."

"Yes, but Emma is a human being that deserves more than just you THINKING you can raise her."

"Ma, why can't you just trust me on this?" Gerard raised his voice.

"I'm sorry but this is all just happening so fast! You're moving in with Charlotte and raising a little girl. I just don't want you to rush into things, is all." Donna said in a calm, soothing, motherly tone.

"Why didn't you tell me Gee?" Mikey whispered.

"I don't know, Mom was right things did happen fast, but I don't regret anything." After minute or two everything went back to normal and they all started chatting once again.

"Well, it's your life. I got your back, bro." Mikey went back to chewing his turkey, savoring every bite.

"Thanks."

"What do you think, Char? Are you still up for this?" Gerard looked back at her.

"Of course, I'll always be right beside you," she looked into his eyes and he gave her cold, little nose a kiss.

"Aww," Donna let out, from across the table. Gerard blushed a bit, but eventually let it go.

"I'm gonna go load my stuff in the car really quickly, I'll be gone for a bit." he gave her a quick kiss be for moving towards the door.

"Wait," she tossed him the car keys.

"Thanks, babe," and he walked out.

"Well, you and my son seem to be getting quite serious," Donna smirked.

"I only hope that the two of you's plans work out perfectly. I'd hat for either of you to get hurt," she seemed sincere enough. But only a truly wicked person would want their son to split up with their girlfirned, unless they had a good reason and were just being protective.

"Hey, Charlotte," Mikey whispered.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

"Meet me in the front yard in about two minutes, 'kay?" she nodded. He picked up his plate and walked out. She looked at Alicia for some hint of what would happen next.

"I really don't know what he has in mind. He's probably just looking out for Gerard, Mikey cares about Gerard so much, he doesn't want anything bad to happen in you and Gerard's relationship." Alicia let out a small laugh. "Sometimes, I think he cares more about Gerard's love life than he does ours."

"I think it's about time for me to meet Mikey, I'll talk to you later okay?" Alicia nodded and Charlotte walked out to the frigid, front porch.

"Hey," Mikey greeted.

"Hey, so what did you want to talk about?" Charlotte inquired.

"Well, nothing really, it's just that....are you sure you want to do this. Are you really sure you're okay with Gerard and Emma coming into your house and living with you? I mean what if things don't work out like they were supposed to? I mean Gerard's head over heels for you Charlotte, look at him he's carrying all his junk in the freezing cold just to be with you!" Alas, he was right. The temperature was decreasing as they spoke and Gerard still continued with his work.

"Mikey, I know I can do this. It might not be the most convincing thing you've heard before, but I know I want to do this. I want to wake up and see Gerard every morning, I want to see Emma grow up before my eyes, and I know about some of the bad things that come with this." she stopped for a breath. "I realize I'm going to have a couple fights with Gerard sooner or later, but what relationship doesn't? And I can live without partying all night long. I really want this, Mikey, I really, really, want this."

"That's all I needed to hear," Mikey gave her a quick smile and pulled her into a hug.

"How you doing?" Gerard asked. Charlotte screamed. Gerard had crouched down behind Mikey and slowly moved to come into Charlotte's view, he was smiling so big it looked sinister. It felt like she was in a horror movie and Gerard was the psychopathic killer.

"Nice one, Gee," the brothers high-fived each other. "I think I got everything, you ready to go, Char?"

"Yeah, let's just say goodbye to everyone, first."

"Okay, easy enough." Gerard opened the front door and without even stepping inside the house, he bellowed, "Hey, everyone, me, Charlotte, and Emma are leaving so...bye!"

"Oh, wait Gerard, I have some clothes for Emma! Wait here!" Donna walked down the hallway and they heard a door open then slam closed after a minute. Gerard's mom returned with a pile of clothes, overflowing in her arms.

"Ma, let me help." Mikey jumped to his mother's aid, while Gerard just stood by the door, as if he were afraid he'd fall through a trap door if he took another step further.

"Thank you, Mikey," she handed the load to Mikey then sent Gerard a scowl.

"Tut, tut, tut, Gerard, the least you could do for mom before you leave her alone in this big house is help her carry some clothes to your car." Mikey loved to watch Gerard's tranquil face transform into anger, he hardly ever got to see it do that.

"So, Mom, where'd you get all these clothes," Gerard asked while taking about half of the clothes from Mikey.

"Well, before Mikey was born, the doctor said there was a large chance he was going to be a girl, so me and all my friends and family bought all the clothes he would have for the rest of his life." Everyone started laughing.

"Well, he was right so why didn't you use the clothes?" Gerard put his arm around Mikey as he laughed.

"Shut up! Come on let's just get this stuff in the car already."

"Whatever, where's Emma?"

"Over here!" Bob whispered loudly enough for Gerard to hear him. Gerard turned to see Emma, asleep, in Bob's lap.

"Oh sorry, here let me get her off of you."

"It's okay, I'll take her out to the car," Bob stood up, careful not to drop the small, fragile child in his arms. Charlotte opened the front door open for the guys to walk out into the chilly night air.

A couple of boxes Gerard had found and Emma's teddy bear awaited in the back seat of the car. Bob managed to open the door and slid Emma into the seat. He moved her blonde hair away from her face and turned back to Gerard and Charlotte.

"You guys are really lucky to find such a great kid on the streets. You're lucky she's not a homicidal maniac or something." They had a little laugh then Gerard spoke.

"Thanks for spending the night with her Bob, we could tell she was having fun with you." Bob smiled at the comment.

"Well, I had fun too, she's one of those people that makes life worth living, you know?" they nodded, gave Bob a hug, and drove back to their new home.