FicWad

Ray called as Monica was making breakfast. "Good morning Monica, how are you?"
"I'm fine how are you? How's Christa?" Monica walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup. Jamia was still sleeping and she didn't want to wake her until the popovers were done. She peered into the oven to check their progress.
"We're both fine. I've got a favor to ask," he whispered.
"Ray, why are you whispering?"
"Christa is making breakfast and I don't want her to hear. I need to figure out a way to escape for a few hours."
Monica laughed at his dramatic tone, "Escape? Is Christa holding you hostage?"
"Not exactly, but she does keep an eye on me. I want you to distract her so I can get out and do something."
"Ray you're being pretty vague. Do you need to go somewhere? I didn't think you were supposed to drive yet."
He snorted, "Yeah, that's what the doctor said but this is important. Can you ask her to go to lunch with you or something?'
Monica frowned; she didn't want to leave Jamia alone again. Yesterday she had gotten up and tried to clean while she had been gone. "Ray, I've got to tell you something but you have to keep it quiet. I'm staying with Jamia cause the doctor put her on bed rest."
He was immediately concerned, "What's wrong? Are the babies okay?"
"Jamia has had some contractions and is on medication to stop them. She's not supposed to do anything but rest. She hasn't told Frank cause she doesn't want to upset him."
"But Monica, you're not supposed to be doing anything but resting too." Ray reminded her.
"Really, I'm not doing much of anything, we are just keeping each other company for the most part." Monica thought a moment, "Ray, tell Christa about Jamia. Make sure she knows not to tell anyone. Then ask her if she can come over later and stay with Jamia while I go out and run some errands. I'll pick you up and take you wherever you need to go."
Ray thought a moment, "Yeah, that will work. She'll be over in about an hour, is that okay?"
"Sounds great. Tell Christa I'll see her then." Monica hung up and wondered just where Ray needed to go.

The interview was about to begin when Bob's cell phone alerted him to a message. He read the text and smiled. Gerard looked over at him. "It's from Kara. She just got to school and wanted to remind me how much she loves me and that Pizza Hut delivery is the best."
Gerard gave him a very puzzled look, "Long story I'll tell you later." Bob laughed. He pocketed his phone and waited. These interviews always made him nervous no matter how many he had done. "I wish Frank was here." He whispered to Gerard.
"Yeah, but it looked like hell this morning, so letting him stay back at the hotel and rest was the best thing." Gerard said. The interviewer smiled and signed that they were ready to begin. Fortunately the interview was going to be completely in English with German subtitles added later.
"Performing in front of thousands of fans must be a rush. What is it like when you leave the stage?"
Gerard thought a moment, "You just have to decompress. Sometimes I feel like I'm plugged directly into whatever energy is coming from the crowd, we all are, whether it's negative or positive. I'm traumatized but in a good way you know? A lot of my days are just spent staring at a wall. Just shell-shocked. When I was going through my drink problem my therapist told me a quote from a song and he's a big Paul Simon fan, so I assume it's a Paul Simon song, he said "When the music's over, the rest is silence." Basically that means when the show's over, it's over and you've got to let it go."
"There must be moments when all the adoration seems completely ridiculous"
Once more Gerard answered, "Well I think you can tell by the expression on my face that I'm laughing at it" he smiled, "We're a band who play with the notions of what a rock star is and poke fun at it almost. I guess that's what makes it theatrical and Rocky Horror. It's almost like we're normal dudes playing rock stars. It's definitely tongue-in-cheek the whole time. It's fun and they're laughing and they know that I'm just being a jerk."
The interviewer smiled "It seems you're latest trick to try to preserve your sanity is to let another band play at being rock stars, your alter ego, The Black Parade. On this tour you even come on stage dressed up as The Black Parade, to play the album in order in it's entirely, before coming back as My Chemical Romance to play your hits."
Bob spoke up, "I think that makes the separation a lot easier. It's a whole different mindset, you go into The Black Parade set any you're telling a story, You feel like you're in character. Then when we come back up it's the same s it was three years ago and we're just rocking the stage. It keeps us from being those characters 24 hours a day."
The rest of the interview was fairly standard questions. Bob let Gerard answer most of the time while he sat back. He was totally fine with Gerard doing most of the talking. Truth be know he still wasn't feeling well and he knew he had stayed out too late last night and was paying for it now. Once more the issue about Gerard's upcoming birthday was addressed.
"Gerard how do you feel about turning thirty?"
"I like getting older because you learn more every single year and being 30 means I've learned a lot. It is a big milestone. There were many times when I thought I wasn't going to make it to 30. I can now picture myself at 40, 50 and 60. Well maybe not 60 because then you start to shrink and your ears get really big."

"You are sure that Ray and Christa know not to tell anyone, right?" Jamia asked again. "I mean it's not that I don't trust them but I don't want Frank to hear about me from anyone but me when he gets back."
"They both understand. This will be a great opportunity for you to get to know Christa better." Monica said, "Now stop worrying. Christa will be here any minute."
"You going over to the house?" Jamia asked.
Monica nodded, she hated to lie to Jamia but she didn't want to say anything cause she really didn't know what Ray was up to. Returning to the kitchen she finished putting away the dishes and called Donna. She had tried to call last night after she had talked to Gerard to try to find out why Kelly had called him. Kelly really had been asleep, so technically she hadn't lied to Gerard. Donna had told her that Kelly was planning on going to school today so she thought she would check in with Donna to see how Kelly had felt this morning.
"She was much better. Of course I think she really wanted to get back to school to see Mike." Donna said with a slight laugh.
"Donna, did you know Kelly called Gee?" Monica asked.
"She didn't tell me she called him."
"I think the call upset Gee. He said she questioned him about if he really wanted to be her father."
Donna was shocked, "Why would she do that? I thought the two of them had really bonded."
"They have so that 's why I'm concerned. Could you please have her call me when she gets home?" Monica asked.
"Sure. So how's Jamia?" They talked for several more minutes until the doorbell rang. It was Christa.
"Hey Jamia' she said after Monica let her in, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm feeling fine. Sorry you had to come and baby-sit me. I told Monica I could stay by myself."
Monica laughed, "Yeah, right. Yesterday when I left her alone she decided to clean her bedroom. I can't trust her."
Jamia rolled her eyes, "I'm bored. I've never been this inactive in my life." She sat up, "So Christa what are we gonna do?"
Christa sat down on the sofa by her and said in a mock whisper, "Well we'll wait until she leaves then we can take off and go shopping."
"Sounds good to me," she said playing along, "So Monica you better get going, see ya later."
Monica looked at the two of them and laughed, "Be good girls, I'll be back in a few hours." She grabbed her purse and took off. On the way to Ray's she decided to try and call Gerard but reached his voice mail. She left a lovey-dovey message for him in her best sexy voice. Lord, she missed him.
Ray answered the door as soon as she knocked, "Thanks Monica, I really appreciate this." They walked out to the car.
"So where are we going?"
"I want to get Christa an engagement ring." He said as they settled into the car.
Monica smiled, "Oh how romantic. I'm so glad you two are together, she's great.
So to you have a jewelry store in mind?"
Ray nodded, "Yeah, I bought my mom a necklace a few years ago and they were pretty nice. I think I'll get her ring there." He gave Monica directions to the store.
"So how is living together been?" Monica asked without taking her eyes off the traffic.
He thought a minute before answering, "She's completely messed up my apartment, turned everything in my world upside down and I couldn't be happier."
Monica smiled, "Ain't love grand!"

Kelly did as the teacher directed and opened her book to the proper page. She tried to concentrate on the text but just couldn't. Something Mike had said earlier was still bothering her. Why had he asked about Gerard and her mom? What would make him think that their relationship wasn't okay? She had told him that they were in love and planning on marrying soon. He had just nodded and looked away before changing the subject. She really wanted class to be over so she could talk to him. Something wasn't right and she wanted to find out what it was.

Authors Note - The interview is taken from "Rock Sound" June 2007 issue. God, I just love the way his mind thinks sometimes, big ears!! Ha Ha. Also this story isn't current with the actual date so Gee hasn't had his 30th Birthday yet.