FicWad

On the plane to Montreal, Ray looked over to see Christa laughing. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
“I was thinking about the text Alicia and Jamia sent me right before we boarded the plane telling me they hate my guts.”
Ray gave her a puzzled look, “What?’
They’re mad cause I got to go on the tour and they’re back home.” She laughed, “It’s all good, they signed it - Love You, Alicia and Jamia.”
“So they hate you but they love you?”
“Yep.” She leaned over and laid her head on his shoulder. “I’m so glad I’m with you.”
“Yeah, but I gotta tell you, it’s weird. I’ve never been the only member to have someone with them. Jamia used to go a lot, same with Alicia. Even Monica went on the very first stops of “The Black Parade.”
“And poor little Ray had no one?” she teased.
“No, that’s not true. I had someone. She was just back home.” He put his finger under her chin and lifted her face to his. “But I like it much better now that’s she’s actually with me.”
“Me too.” She barely got out before his lips claimed hers.

Bob looked back at Ray and Christa, “Ah young love.” He laughed.
Gerard turned in his seat and got a glimpse of the kissing couple. “Guess our little Ray is growing up.”
Mikey peered over the seat in front of them. “Hey Bob, try out the wedding gift Alicia and I got ya?”
Bob narrowed his eyes, “Dude, you are warped.”
Mikey grinned, “Fuck yeah. So missing the wife already?”
Bob sighed, “I missed her as soon as Gee and I got in the van.”
Gerard listened to his friends voice and heard the sincerity that laced his words. He realized he been so wrong to throw a fit over them marrying. Bob found the love of his life and he married her. It was just that simple. He wondered what the love of his life was doing right now. He leaned his head back and tried to imagine her in their house. Man, it made him feel good knowing that their lives were falling into place. He sat back up in his seat then stood to grab his messenger bag from the overhead compartment. He needed to go over the list of wedding guests. Lots of names were gonna be cut. This wedding had to be prefect and he understood what she had meant when she said she would feel like a stranger at her own wedding. He wanted just close friends and family. That would be best. He sat back down and hunted for the piece of paper.
“What’s that?” Bob asked looking over at the scrapbook Kelly had made. Gerard had removed it while looking for the list.
“Kell made it for my birthday. She wanted me to open my gift this morning.” He handed it over to Bob to look through.
Bob smiled, “I’ve seen some of the photos. She was working on it yesterday and showed me some of them. She must have finished this up last night. Sweet girl.”
“Yeah, she is. Kind of hard to believe she and Kara are sisters.” Gerard said looking down at the list he had finally found.
Bob turned to him.” What’s that supposed to mean?”
Gerard heard the anger in his voice. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded. Kara is great, she really is. What I meant was their personalities are so different. Kara is so outgoing and Kell is quieter.”
“You really don’t know Kara. She’s much deeper than you think. She just hides so many of her emotions. If anyone should understand what she's doing, it should be you. You both do the same thing. She avoids feeling the hurt by playing shallow and you ignore it by playing emo but neither of you has dealt with your demons. Hers is the fact that her own father terrorized her mother and that deep down she's glad that he's dead so that she doesn't have to walk on egg shells anymore wondering what will set him off this time or what new way he'll find to hurt Monica while still playing the loving father. If you ignore the pain, the guilt, the bad feelings then they don't exist and the world can't hurt you."
Gerard looked up from the paper in his hands. He thought about what Bob had said. “I know I’ve caused her pain too. All the shit that went on was my fault. Some day I hope she learns to trust me. You know I’m glad you and she got married.”
“That’s a sudden change of heart.” Bob said staring at him.
Gerard nodded, “Yeah, it is. I’ve done some thinking and I know I was wrong. I see how much you two love each other.”
Bob was suddenly feeling a lot better. He had been worried about dealing with Gerard on this tour. Now it was starting to feel like things would be okay. “Thanks, man.”
“So is this the part where you two kiss and make up?” Frank asked. They all had thought he’d been sleeping.
Bob moved slightly forward so he could peer around Gerard at Frank who was across the aisle. “How many times I gotta tell you? I’m not doing your job. You gotta kiss him.”
Gerard snickered and Frank grinned, “Yeah it’s a nasty job but someone’s gotta do it.”

“So wanna go visit Monica?” Alicia asked. She had arrived at Jamia’s apartment an hour ago. The two women had already sent a text to Christa ragging on her and now were bored.
“Why don’t we call and see if she wants us to come over at lunchtime. We could pick up something on the way over there.” Jamia suggested.
Alicia nodded and picked up the phone. “Hey, we’re bored. Can we come over for lunch? We'll bring the food.”
Monica laughed, “You can come over anytime. I’m feeling kinda blue right now so you’ll have to cheer me up.”
“Crap, we were kinda thinking you’d cheer us up.”
“What does she want us to bring?” Jamia asked.
Monica heard the question. “I can make sandwiches and soup unless you two want something else.”
Alicia told her what Monica had offered, “Sounds good to me.”
“Sandwiches and soup are good. We’ll see you in about an hour.”

Monica had just finished up the dishes she had used making the Cauliflower and Cheese soup and was drying her hands when the doorbell rang. She smiled knowing her friends had arrived. She was shocked to see Bert standing on her doorstep.
“Hey, beautiful. How’s it going?”
“Bert, what are you doing here?” Monica smiled at the surprise.
“Just thought I’d stop by and see how the new house is coming along and to check on you.” He added the last part with more emphasis.
“Come in.” She stepped back and allowed him to enter. They stopped in the entry hall. “Wanna tour?”
“Sure”
Monica gave him a tour of the downstairs. When they were in the kitchen, Bert happened to glance outside into the back yard. “What is that?”
Monica has sort of hoping he wouldn’t notice. “That’s Gerard’s work in progress. He’s building a gazebo.”
Bert walked over to the door and went out on the deck to get a better look. “Gee is building a gazebo?” He shook his head in wonder.
“Yep. We’re gonna get married out there.” She told him happily.
He turned to her, “So everything’s okay now between you two?”
Monica realized he was talking about the trouble their relationship had gone through because of Eliza. “Yes, we are. And thank you for the roses.”
He smiled, “Glad to hear you two are okay. Where is he by the way?”
“You just missed him. They went back out on tour this morning. “ She told him sadly.
“Oh” he seemed distracted.
“What’s wrong? Did you need to talk to him? I’m sure you’ll be able to get him on his cell later today. They have a concert tonight in Montreal.”
“Can we sit and talk a minute?” He tilted his head towards the patio chairs.
“Sure” They both sat down. “So tell me what’s wrong?”
“Not sure really. You know Gee called me about Liv’s number, right?” He hoped the two to them weren’t keeping secrets again.
“He told me. You know it wasn’t real?”
He nodded, “He called me back and told me. I guess I started worrying after that. Liv seemed so down last time I saw her. I was hoping you and Gee had found a way to get hold of her.”
“No, actually we haven’t. Gee didn’t get to spend any time with Elle while he as home. He was upset about the whole thing. He thinks Liv is just playing mind games with him.”
Bert took out a cigarette and lit it. “I don’t know what to think. I just wanna fucking talk to her. Make sure she’s okay.” It was obvious Bert still had some deep feelings for Liv.
“She’s supposed to call me sometime this week.” Monica told him.
“What? How do you know that?”
“She called Mikey and told him that she would call me.”
Bert was confused, “Why not just call you?”
“My guess is she was afraid she might have to talk to Gee.”
He took a drag off the cigarette before speaking, “What the hell is going on?”
Monica sighed, “I don’t know. I’ll I do know is I miss Elle.”
Bert’s confusion grew, “I didn’t realize you knew Elle all that well.”
“I’ve watched her for Liv several times.”
“Shit, I didn’t know that. Gee didn’t tell me.” They were both silent, lost in thought. Finally Bert spoke, “So do you and Gee want partial custody of her?”
Monica nodded, “Gee said he’d like to have Elle stay with us part of the time, yeah.”
Bert took another drag, “You wouldn’t try to take her away from Liv, would you?’
“No, absolutely not.” Monica was shocked by the question. “I can tell by the way Elle acts that Liv is a good mother. I just think it would be good for her to know her father too.”
Bert sat back slowly. “I just wanna talk to Liv. I’ve got his gut feeling something is up with her.”
Monica looked out across the yard. Sometimes she wondered about Liv’s motives to. “I’m planning on talking to her when I see her next. Maybe she and I can form some kind of friendship.”
Bert laughed, “Good luck on that. Liv ain’t exactly the friend type.”
“Maybe she’s changed.” Monica said softly.
“I just wanna talk to her.” Bert said again as he tossed his cigarette butt off the deck.
Monica wondered if Bert realized how much he still cared for Liv. She smiled, “I’ll tell her.”