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"Ray just called from his place." Gerard informed Monica who was sitting at the breakfast table. "He said there were hundreds of fans waiting outside the hospital."
Monica looked up from her cup of coffee and smiled, "Well of course there were. Christa was there, wasn't she?"
Gerard took a seat at the table by her side, "Yeah and I just found out Ray asked her to move in with him. He said she was messing up his canned goods." He looked puzzled, "I really didn't want to ask what that meant so I just let it go. He sounded so amped."
Monica smiled, "That's all that's important. I'm glad Christa is moving in with him. They are good for each other." She took another sip of coffee then yawned. She and Gee had gotten back from their house early this morning and she hadn't gotten much sleep.
"You're tired" he said feeling guilty while reaching out to touch her cheek, "You needed more sleep than you got last night."
"Sleep is so overrated" she smiled, "Besides I enjoyed what we were doing all night much more than sleeping." She felt warm at the memory.
"Oh hell yeah." He agreed. "It was a special night, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, Gee it was wonderful." Monica said. She leaned over and kissed his lips gently.
The front doorbell broke into their memories. Gerard stood, "That'll be Bert"
Monica was surprised, "You knew he was coming by this morning?"
Gerard answered as he left the kitchen, "Yeah he called last night right after dinner."
So his was the phone call that seemed to upset Gerard at the house. She wondered what Bert had said. Gerard came back into the kitchen with Bert following.
"Morning, Monica" Bert said leaning down and kissing her cheek. "You look much better than the last time I saw you."
"Thanks, I feel much better. How have you been?"
Bert took the cup of coffee Gerard offered him and sat down at the table. "I'm good. London was good to us. The concert netted a lot of money for the charity. Now I'm on my way back to California for rehearsals. We're gonna headline Warped this year and we have so much new material we want to get started working on."
"Headlining Warped, that's great." Monica said.
Bert shrugged, "Yeah, it's all good. Warped is like an old friend to us. I got some fucking great memories from past tours." He shot Gerard a look but his friend was looking down into the coffee cup in front of him.
Monica noticed the subject seemed to bother Gerard so she spoke to Bert. "So did Gerard tell you about our house and his new grill?" She said teasingly.
Bert laughed, "A new grill? Oh man, Gee has his own grill?" He looked over at Gerard. "So tell me about it."
Gerard looked up, "Want to take a quick ride over there?" The way he said it to Bert it was obvious to Monica she wasn't invited. He wanted to talk to Bert alone. She was proved right when Gerard turned to her, "Why don't you try to get a bit more sleep? I'll show Bert the house and my grill then we'll grab some lunch later on."
Monica tried to look into his eyes but he refused to meet her gaze. "Sure, that's fine. When you guys get back we'll go out to lunch."
Once they were gone she moved into the living room and settled herself on the sofa. Whatever Bert and Gerard were going to talk about they didn't want to discuss in front of her. She knew it was something to do with Liv. No matter what happened between them Liv was still a part of their past that seemed to bind them together. She was a part that seemed to never fully go away.

"Frank, wake up." He felt a shove to his back that was none to gentle. Opening one eye he saw that Jamia was standing over him and the look on her face meant she wasn't a happy camper. "Why didn't you come to bed last night?"
He rolled over on the sofa and tried to smile. "Uh, I fell asleep watching T.V." He quickly glanced over at the set, which was on the channel "Lifetime".
Jamia followed his gaze, "You're telling me you were watching something on Lifetime?" She shook her head, "Lifetime, Frank? Television for Women? You hate that channel."
In truth he had been watching the DVD of the ultrasound and had fallen asleep. When the DVD was over it had gone back to live T.V. and that was the channel Jamia must have been watching earlier. "They have some good movies sometimes" he tried his best to sound sincere.
Jamia's eyes narrowed, "Not buying it Frank." She walked over to the entertainment unit and pushed the eject button on the DVD player. When she saw what was in the player she gasped, "You were watching the ultrasound, you were trying to figure out the sex of the babies weren't you?"
"Honey, I was just watching the ultrasound to see our babies again." He stood and walked over to her. "Can't a guy want to see his kids?"
Much to his surprise Jamia smiled and gave him a hug, "So did you figure it out? Are we having boys or girls or both?"
He was relieved, "Actually I'm not sure. I think we're having blobs. I can make out shapes and all but just when I think it's a hand I'm seeing I'm pretty sure it's a foot."
"We could just ask the doctor to tell us." She reminded him.
He thought about it, "No I think we were right with our first decision. I wanna be surprised."
Jamia kissed him tenderly, "Come back to bed Frankie, I missed you last night." She purred. She didn't have to ask him twice.

Gerard looked over at Bert who was lighting a cigarette, "So tell me about Liv. When did you talk to her?"
Bert took a deep drag then exhaled, "Like I told you, she called me yesterday morning. It was so fucking weird, she sounded so different. She told me she was staying with a friend and she admitted she had skipped out on her apartment cause she couldn't pay the rent. I asked her if she wanted some money."
Gerard was sure he knew the answer she had given him. "How much are you gonna give her?"
Bert looked at him, "Ok fucking weirdness. She said 'no thank you'."
Gerard glanced over at him, "She turned down money? Why?"
"No fucking idea" Bert said, "She told me she just wanted to call me to say she was sorry for all the bad things she had ever done to me." His voice dropped, "She said she was sorry for using me to hurt you."
"Fuck" Gerard said, he knew that had hurt Bert to hear. He had always liked Liv and hated that she had chosen to stay with him. "What else did she say?"
Bert was silent a moment before going on, "She said she wished things could be different, that she wished she could have lived her life differently. That Elena was the only good thing she had ever done."
Gerard was confused by the emotions he was feeling. Liv loving a child that was his seemed strange. She had hated him so much how could she love his child? "Do you think she meant what she was saying or is she just playing us?"
"Gee, I think she really fucking meant all of it. I told her you wanted to meet with her but she suddenly got really quiet. I told her you wanted to see your child and that it was your right as the father."
"What did she say to that?
"She said that she didn't think she could face you. That she had tried to call you a few times but lost her nerve."
"Well she's gonna have to fucking face me. I want to see Elena." He tried to put the thought out of his mind that meeting Elena would mean seeing Liv again.
They both were silent a moment. "Gee, did Liv ever talk much about her past before she met us?"
Gerard shook his head, "No, whenever I would ask she could change the subject. I remember the first time I saw her it was like she had just come out of nowhere. Fuck, I don't even think she had anything that was really hers. She was just following Warped from place to place doing shit for whatever band could use her."
Bert agreed, "Yeah, I saw her hanging around a lot before I ever talked to her. I thought she was someone's girlfriend of something."
"What are you thinking?' Gerard asked.
The silence in the car seemed to go on forever before Bert spoke again. "I'm not sure. Both of us spent so much time with her but we didn't really know anything about her."
Gerard snorted, "I knew plenty about her. I know she knew how much I loved her and she used that fact to hurt me every chance she got. I know I wanted to take care of her but she wouldn't let me. Mostly I know how much it hurt when I woke up and she was gone." He voice was almost a whisper.
Bert looked over at him. "Do you think she knew she was pregnant when she left?"
This was a question Gerard hadn't asked himself. He hadn't even given it a thought before now. "Why would she leave me if she knew she was pregnant? Why would she choose to raise a baby on her own?"
Bert picked some black polish off his thumbnail while thinking, "Cause maybe she wasn't sure it was yours."
Gerard shot him a look, "Do you think the baby could have been yours?"
"No, I know it couldn't. The last time I slept with Liv was the morning you caught us and you and I had the fight. I never touched her after that. You and she were together a long time after that."
Gerard sighed, "Fuck I have no idea that to think about any of this shit. My mom says the little girl looks like me. You said the same thing. For as much as she and I fought, we were together almost all of the time. I don't think she was sleeping with anyone else but I don't know for sure."
"So what are you gonna do?" Bert asked.
"Can you get a hold of her? Did she leave a number? Gerard asked while watching the road.
"She called on a private number. I asked her for a number where I could call her but she said I didn't need it."
"How the fuck am I supposed to track her down?" Gerard asked angrily.
"Dunno" he looked over at his friend, "What did she say to Ray?"
Gerard looked at him confused, "What?"
"Liv told me she had left a message for you with Ray when he was in the hospital. She said that she thought it was important for you to know."
"Well fuck, Ray never told me that he saw Liv." He tried not to be angry with Ray but it was impossible. "Shit why didn't he tell me?"
"Toro would try to protect you. With Monica's accident and his own, I'm fucking sure he thought you didn't need to deal with any shit from Liv."
Some of Gerard's anger faded, "Yeah, but still he should have told me."
"I wonder what she said" Bert mused.
"Yeah, I'll find out later today when I see him" Gerard said. "I fucking want to know just what it is she thinks I need to hear."