FicWad

“Frank you’re gonna love the baby furniture. It’s just so perfect. I knew what I wanted right away but Alicia and Monica made me look at some many different pieces my head was starting to spin.”
Frank settled back in the comfy lobby chair and smiled. Jamia sounded so happy. God, he wished he was with her right now. “So tell me all about the shopping trip. You got baby beds but what else?”
“I also ordered the dressers that match the beds and a changing table. I still want to get a rocker but the girls were getting tired so that will have to wait until another day. If you want, as soon as we get the nursery done, I’ll take pictures and send them to your phone.”
“Yeah, I really want to see the stuff.” He paused, “Jamia, I’m really sorry I’m not there with you. I know I should be.”
“Frankie, I understand why you can’t be here.” She said softly.
“But it just ain’t right.” He said sadly. “It’s not right that you are handling all this shit alone.”
Jamia heard the sadness in his voice and it worried her, “But I’m not alone. I’ve got some great friends who are helping me. It’s all good, Frankie.”
He took a breath and decided to rat himself out about the show last night before Jamia saw the video on YouTube. “I did a little crowd surfing last night.”
“Frank, what have I told you about that?” Jamia’s voice was full of concern. “You could really get hurt doing that.”
“Nah, the kids always catch me. It’s all good.”
“But still what if they don’t? You could get really hurt. Look, I’m not raising these babies alone, mister.” She teased.
“Okay I promise not to dive off the stage anymore.” Frank said sadly.
“Are your fingers crossed, Frank?” Jamia asked knowing perfectly well that they were.
He laughed, “Maybe just a little. Look sometimes I’m on stage and shit just happens. I looked out into that sea of kids and, well, next thing I knew I was out there with them.”
Jamia shook her head, “Just be careful. I love you.”
Frank leaned back “Promise” he said.
“So how was the dinner for Gee?” Jamia shifted her weight in the chair trying to find a comfortable spot. Lately that was getting harder and harder.
“It was good. We all chipped in and got him a Habitrail.”
“Frank you didn’t. I’m sure Monica will be pleased.” She rolled her eyes.
Frank laughed, “You should have seen him hugging the box. Love the guy but sometimes he frightens me. Hamsters.” Frank shook his head. “He’s a strange one.”

“Oh my God. Four hours, Mikey. It took her hour hours to decide on baby furniture. It was fucking insane-o. No, these look too old fashioned; no, these look too modern. Crap she looked at the displays in the store, then we got her settle into a chair and she looked through catalogs. I swear there must have been fifty catalogs.”
Mikey walked outside the hotel to the enclosed patio area. He had wanted to find a quiet place to call Alicia. He knew Bob was upstairs in their room talking to Kara. “So how did she finally decide?’
“You won’t believe it. We were walking out of the place when she spotted the very first bedroom suite the salesgirl showed her. She stopped and declared that it was exactly what she had been looking for. Hell, Monica and I weren’t gonna point out that little fact to her. We just grabbed the salesgirl and had her write up the order before Jamia changed her mind. What’s left of her mind, anyway.”?
Mikey laughed, “Sounds like you had a good day.”
“Okay, it wasn’t all that terrible I guess. She and I have been talking about painting the room now and picking a theme.”
“Theme?” Mikey was surprised, “Nursery’s have themes?”
“Hell, yeah. But enough talk about babies. Tell me about Gee’s birthday dinner. You have a good time?”
“My brother is an idiot.” Mikey said “I mean that with love. We all chipped in and gave him a Habitrail.”
“Fuck, the guy still wants hamsters?”
“Oh yeah. He’s all excited about it.”
“Poor Monica.” Alicia said laughing. “So tell me about your day.”
Mikey frowned, “Nothing special. We did some interviews. I just sat there.”
Alicia heard something off in his voice, “How come you didn’t contribute?’
“Fuck, they only want to hear what Gee has to say, you know that.”
Alicia had never heard him voice this feeling before, “That’s not true. The fans care just as much about what you have to say as Gee.”
“Whatever” he said softly, “I kinda tired. Think I’ll go up to the room now and see if Bob’s done talking to Kara. I just wanna go to sleep.”
“Mikey is everything okay?” Alicia asked with concern.
“It’s all good.” He said softly.

Bob had the hotel room to himself since Mikey had stayed downstairs of phone Alicia. He was anxious to take to Kara.
As he waited for the call to connect, he picked up the gift Kara had hidden in his bag. It was a small framed photo of her taken on their wedding day. It was hard to believe that it wasn't even a week ago. So much had happened since then. He pushed the button on the bottom of the frame and Kara's voice filled the room.
Kara came on the line in time to hear her own voice. "You finally found it."
"Yeah, but I wish someone had warned me. I thought I was going crazy this morning. I woke up and kept hearing your voice. That idiot Mikey had knocked the bag off the stand when he was sleep walking. Next thing you know, the bag is talking to me. Took me awhile to figure out what was going on."
Kara laughed.
"It was a weird way to wake up." He quickly added, "Nice, but weird."
"How was your day Pookie?" Kara asked, "How was the interview? What random things did Gerard say this time?"
"Oh not much. He mostly talked about the album and the tour. Then he showed off the ring your mom got him."
"What ring?"
"She gave him an engagement ring for his birthday."
"Wonder if she thinks that will keep him in line this tour?"
"Kara." Bob sounded reproachful.
"Whoops, did I say that out loud? Sorry." She didn't sound sincere.
Bob decided to let it go. "Hey would you be mad if everyone knew we were married?"
"No, why? Is it a state secret?" Kara asked laughing.
"I hope not because I may have announced it during the interview."
"May have?"
"Okay, I did. Are you mad?"
"No, I guess not. It's weird having so many people know about it." Kara said. "But I love you and I don't care who knows it."
"Ditto."
The conversation then turned to Kara's day and then the birthday dinner and Gerard's child-like reaction to the Habitrail.
Mikey came back into the room as the couple were saying their good-byes. He looked tired and collapsed onto the bed.
After a few minutes of mushy talk, Bob disconnected. He looked at Mikey who was staring at the ceiling. "What's eating you, dude?"
"Just tired I guess."
"Know what you mean. It's been a long day."
They sat in silence for a while. "You missin' Alicia?" Bob asked.
"Yeah" was Mikey's simple answer. He had rolled over on his stomach and didn't look up from pulling threads out of the comforter. He suddenly asked, "Don't you wish you didn't have to leave home?"
"No, not really. It's hard to leave Kara but I can't imagine doing anything else."
Mikey thought on it for a while. "Me either." He got up and disappeared into the bathroom.
Bob reached over and pushed the button on Kara's frame. Again her voice filled the room. "Be sure to take your vitamins. You're gonna need your strength when you get home."