FicWad

Early the next morning Monica awoke to find herself alone in the luxurious king-size bed. She grabbed the fluffy robe provided by the hotel and went in search for Gerard. He was in the living room on the sofa his head bent over his sketchbook. Monica stood quietly for a moment just watching him. He looked so handsome, his black hair had grown out enough to fall into his eyes but he worked with such intensity it didn't seem to bother him.
"Why are you staring at me?" he asked without looking up from his work.
Monica smiled, "I love to watch you." She answered honestly. "I woke up and was all alone so I came to find you."
He put the sketchbook on the coffee table and stood, "I'm sorry I was planning on coming back to bed but I lost track of time."
"How long have you been up?" She crossed the room and stood in front of him.
He took her in his arms before answering, "About an hour, I guess. I had an idea for a song I wanted to work on so I did that. Then I suddenly wanted to draw."
Monica looked down at the picture he had been working on. It was a drawing of a woman lying in a bed, her hair spread out on the pillow. It was a picture of her. "Oh Gee, it's beautiful."
He smiled, "You like?"
"You drew me much prettier than I really am," she told him.
He shook his head, "That is exactly how I see you. You are beautiful Monica." He lowered his lips to hers. "Absolutely beautiful."
She laid her head against his chest. "So do you still want to come back to bed?" she whispered.
He smiled, "More than anything but my brother and his new wife called and want up to meet them for breakfast. I was gonna wake you up right before you came in."
"Well we can't disappoint the happy couple. Especially since we didn't meet them for dinner last night." She and Gerard had chosen to spend the evening in their room. "I'll get dressed." She moved out of his arms and started to turn back to the bedroom. Gerard captured her hand.
"Honey" he looked into her eyes, "I love you"
She smiled, "And I love you."
They met Mikey and Alicia in the lobby twenty minutes later. The newly wedded couple were holding hands and smiling. They greeted each other and decided on a breakfast destination, The Bellagio Pool Café. It was a beautiful outdoor café, which overlooked the pools and courtyards.
As they were studying their menus Alicia teased them, "So you guys weren't hungry last night?"
Gerard didn't bother to look up from the menu, "Well not for food." Beside him Monica giggled.
Mikey smiled, "Actually we weren't either but we called to see if you two still wanted to go to dinner to be polite."
Alicia scooted her chair closer to his, "We were pretty fucking glad you guys said you didn't still want to meet up. We kinda had other things to do." She leaned over and kissed Mikey soundly.
Monica looked at them and sighed, "I'm so happy you two got married and thank you for inviting us to be part of it."
"So are you sure you don't want to go back to the Heartbreak today and tie the knot? We should have enough time before we have to get to the airport." Alicia looked at Monica knowing she was the holdout. She knew Gerard would agree to marrying Monica in a heartbeat.
Monica smiled, "Actually I almost asked him yesterday to marry me here. But this trip belongs to you guys, this was your special time. Gee and I will have our own soon."
Gerard was still looking at the menu but he reached over and took her hand, "It will be very special."
When the waitress came they each placed their orders then sat back to relax and enjoy the spectacular view. Gerard realized he hadn't told Mikey about Brian's call. "Hey, Brian called and he set up several interviews for us in the morning."
Mikey frowned, "I thought we weren't supposed to do anything while we were on break." He looked over at Alicia who was also frowning at the prospect of Mikey leaving her side, even for a few hours.
Gerard shrugged, "That's what I told him but he says they are important and you know Brian. Hopefully they won't take long."
"Do the rest of the guys know?" Mikey asked.
"I guess Brian told them. Frank will probably be pissed, Bob won't mind as long as it doesn't cut into his time in the evening with Kara." He took a sip of his coffee and added, "And you know Ray will be OK with it."
"Why do you think Ray will be OK with it? Don't you think he has anything else to do but band stuff?" Alicia asked looking at her brother-in-law.
Gerard looked slightly uncomfortable, he knew Ray had someone special in his life but he also knew Ray didn't want to share that fact yet. "You know how Ray it."
Alicia looked over at Monica, "OK so are you and I the only ones that can tell Ray has someone in his life?"
Monica laughed, "What have you heard?"
"I haven't heard anything but I've seen how different Ray seems lately. Shit I could tell when we were in Vegas last time. He has someone in his life, I wonder why he is keeping it a secret?"
"Probably has his reasons, maybe he's afraid the guys will scare her off." Monica said with a laugh.
Gerard looked at the two women and wondered how they could know so much. He thought he was the only one Ray had sort of confided in. At least Ray had acknowledged he had someone to him. Now he was learning these two had known probably longer than he had. "Why would he think we would scare someone off?" he asked.
They both laughed, "Ok think about it. First you have Frank, need I say more? Then there is you and your brother. You two would want to "check her out". Alicia made the quotes in the air, "to make sure she was good enough for Ray."
Mikey and Gerard stared at her, "No we wouldn't." Mikey said shaking his head. "I mean for sure we would want to make sure she really liked him"
Alicia nodded, "I rest my case. Ray is a grown boy he can pick his own girlfriend."
Gerard thought a moment, "Just cause we worry about Ray isn't bad. I mean you know his last girlfriend treated him brutal. No one wants something like that to happen again."
Mikey nodded, "Ray is our friend, we just want to make sure he doesn't get hurt again."
Alicia looked at Monica. "You want to try to get through to them?"
Monica took a stab at it, "It's nice you guys worry about Ray but let him pick his own girlfriend without him having to worry about what you two think. He knows you guys are there for him but give him some room. He's a great guy and I'm sure he can find someone who will realize that."
Their breakfast order came and they began to eat. Gerard thought about what they had said. They were right, the band had been making it hard for Ray to find someone. He was trying to find someone he liked but someone he also thought would please the rest of them too. He decided to talk to Ray when they got back.
When they were almost done Monica got a call from Kelly. She was immediately worried something bad had happened. She greeted Kelly with, "What's wrong?"
"Mom that's a weird way to answer the phone" Kelly laughed.
Monica relaxed, "Well you're supposed to be in school."
"I am in school and I have permission to call. Can I talk to Gerard please?"
Monica raised her eyebrows and handed the phone to Gerard, "Kelly wants to talk to you."
He smiled and took the phone, "Hey Kell, what's up?"
He listened for several minutes then answered, "Sure, I will get that for you as soon as we get back." He listened to Kelly then added, "I understand, see you tonight."
He handed the phone back to Monica.
She took it from his hand and continued to stare at him waiting for an explanation about the phone call. He resumed eating his breakfast. "Gerard, what was that all about?"
He took a sip of coffee, "Can't say."
Monica looked confused. "Why?"
"Cause she asked me not to? He said patiently.
Monica shook her head, "OK just so this isn't anything like when Kara went to you with something she couldn't tell me." She was remembering when Kara has thought she was pregnant and had gone to Gerard for advice.
He had been taking a drink of coffee and her comment caused him to swallow wrongly and begin coughing, "Monica, come on. Kelly isn't that serious about her boyfriend."
"What boyfriend? And for that matter how would you know?" Her eyes narrowed.
Alicia was watching them with interest, "Oh boy, trouble in paradise."
Mikey put his hand over hers, "Stay out of it." He advised.
Gerard gave Monica a surprised look, "She has a new boyfriend named Mike. They just entered the holding hands stage and I know cause she told me."
Monica knew it was childish but couldn't help how she felt, "She didn't tell me about Mike."
He understood she was hurt, "Honey it's just easier for her to talk to me about it cause well, you know you're her mother and all."
"So cause I'm her mother she doesn't trust me?"
Alicia had always had trouble staying out of things, "Monica don't you remember what it was like talking to your mom? Kinda weird especially about boys."
Monica forced herself to think before speaking. "Ok you're right." She put her hand on Gerard's arm, "I'm sorry I guess it's just been me and the girls for awhile so it's stupid but I guess I'm jealous they talk to you instead of me."
He understood, "It's OK, I'm honored they trust me."
"And I'm glad they trust you. I know you will always make sure they are OK. It's comforting to know that if something happened to me that they would be taken care of."
Gerard dropped his fork, the sound of it hitting the plate made Alicia jump. "Why would you say that?" he turned in his chair to stare at her, "Nothing is gonna happen to you so why say something like that?"
Monica returned his stare but didn't answer right away. She really couldn't say but for some reason that thought has just popped into her head. "I always worry about the girls. I'm a mom that's my job."
He frowned, "But why would you even think something would happen to you?"
She tried to explain, "Gee, I have no one else in the world but you and your mom and dad as family." She added with venom, "Oh yea and a crazy sister-in-law who wants me dead."
Gerard framed her face with his hands, "Monica you listen to me. Nothing is gonna happen to you. You and I are gonna get married and live to a very old age together. So stop the bad thoughts, OK?"
She smiled sadly, "I'm sorry, Gee. Sometimes I can't help it." He pulled her to him and gave her a kiss.
"Crisis averted" Mikey said to Alicia under his breath.
"So do you want to tell me what Kelly wanted?" Monica said in a small voice. She really didn't think he would tell her so she was really just teasing him.
He laughed, "Nope, not telling MV"
She pulled away from him with a puzzled look, "MV?" It dawned on her when she saw the laugher in his eyes.
"Monica Veronica, I get it. At least that's better than you saying the names."
"Heck, I dunno, I like your name." Mikey said in-between bites. "It's cute."
Monica looked at him, "Oh sure. Suppose your mom had named you Raymond Jay?"
Mikey thought a moment, "Holy shit, that would have been bad."
Alicia giggled, "Ray Jay Way."
Gerard finished his coffee, "So what now? We got a couple of hours before we gotta get to the airport."
"Let's gamble" Alicia said happily, "I wanna win again."
Mikey groaned but smiled, "Slots or table games?"
She kissed him, "I'm a slots girl"
Gerard looked over at Monica, "Want to follow them around for a while?"
She shrugged, "Sure, trust me it's entertaining to watch her gamble."
As the stood to leave Gerard leaned over and spoke in her ear, "We can stay with them for awhile then go back to our room. I want to sketch your picture again."
She turned to look into his eyes; the desire she saw there matched her own, "Can I pose for you this time?"
His lips brushed her ear, "Oh honey, I'm counting on it. There is a special pose I have in mind." He nipped at her earlobe sending a shiver down her spine.