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"Dadgee Mommyca say get youse lazy behind outta bed."
Gerard opened one eye. Elle's face was within inches of his own. "Hey Bug." he said sleeply.
Elle giggled, "Gots to huwy. Kewees goin' to school. We gots to sing Happy Birfday."
"Okay, I'll be right down. Don't start singing without me." He pushed back the blankets as he spoke.
"Otay" Elle said skipping out of the room.
Gerard got dressed quickly and joined his family in the kitchen. Monica, Elle and Kelly were seated at the table eating pancakes. "Good morning Birthday Girl." he said giving her a kiss on the cheek before joining them at the table.
"Morning Dad." she said with a smile.
"When are we giving her her gift?" Gerard asked Monica.
She got up and got him a cup of coffee. Returning to the table she sat the mug down in front of him. "I'm not sure if she has time now."
Kelly looked up. "Sure I do."
"Your bus comes in ten minutes." Monica reminded her daughter.
"Hey, I'll drive her to school." Gerard offered before taking a sip of coffee.
Kelly sounded excited, "See, Dad will drive me to school so I have time."
Monica smiled, "Well then I guess she gets her gift now."
Gerard stood, "Come on." He walked towards the basement steps.
"My gift is down in your lair?" Kelly laughed.
"Yeah, it is." He answered leading the way. They reached the bottom step and he pointed. "Happy Birthday, Kell."
Kelly's eyes grew wide. "What is it?" She slowly walked over and pulled open the door to the new room. "Oh my God."
Elle followed her in, "Kewee youse like?" It was clear Elle had no idea what the room or equipment that had been installed were.
"This is great, Bug. It's a dark room."
The look Elle gave her caused Monica and Gerard to laugh.
"Bug, I can take pictures here and develop them myself." She explained.
Elle thought a moment. "pitchers?'
"Photographs, with a camera"
"Like the pitchers mommy has of mes."
Kelly didn't answer. She was too busy looking around. "This is so rad. When did this get built? How come I didn't know?"
Monica smiled, "I had them work on it while you were at school." She reached out and took Gerard's hand. "It was your dad's idea."
Kelly ran over and gave him a huge hug. "Thanks Dad." She hugged her Mom next. "I can't believe I didn't know about this."
"It's cause everyone avoids the lair." Monica said rolling her eyes.
Gerard pretended to be hurt, "Hey, I gave up part of my lair for Kell."
"Oh, man wait until Luke sees this. I've told him how much I love to take pictures. He said I should go old school and take black and whites with a 35mm. He says that is art."
Gerard nodded, "He's right. When I saw the kind of photos you were taking I knew you have an artist's eye. You'll notice the 35mm camera over there."
Kelly spun around. "Oh man." She ran over and lovingly picked up the camera. "Oh, man this is so perfect."
"Well hate to break up the party but you need to get to school." Monica reminded her.
Kelly carefully sat down the camera. "Thanks, so much. This is the best gift I've ever gotten."
They all returned to the kitchen. Monica started picking up the breakfast dishes while Kelly, with the help of Elle, went upstairs to gather her things for school.
“I think she really like it." Gerard said coming up behind Monica and kissed the back of her neck.
"Yeah, she does. Hey, I’ll make you fresh pancakes when you get back.”
Gerard shook his head, “Don’t worry about it. I’m not really hungry.”
Monica shrugged and went back to picking up the dishes. She was surprised when Gerard took the plates she had in her hands and set them back on the table. He took her into his arms and kissed her deeply. When they broke apart Monica smiled, "Whoa, what was that about?"
"I'm just fucking giddy with all this family stuff."
“Family stuff?"
"Yeah, my family. My house and my family." He kissed her again. "And to be honest I'm kinda bummed about last night. I didn't mean to fall asleep."
"It's okay, Gee" Elle had tried to sleep in the pink room alone but it hadn't worked. Kelly had eventually slept with her. It had taken hours to get Elle settled down. In the meantime Gerard had fallen asleep.
"I must be getting old." he frowned, "Beautiful woman in bed with me and I fall asleep. Shit, it ain't right."
Monica giggled, "Poor old Gee."
He pulled her to him again, "Don't tease me, woman." They were involved in a passionate kiss when Kelly cleared her throat. "Uh, I'm ready."
Gerard grinned, "Let's go." He grabbed the keys off the counter.
"Time to do the dishes." Monica said to Elle when they were alone.
“We's didn't sing Happy Birfday." Elle said sadly.
Monica kissed the top of her head; "We'll sing it tonight."

"With proper care and monitoring you and your husband should give birth to a healthy baby." The doctor’s words echoed in Alicia's head making her smile.
Mikey, who was just returning from the kitchen noticed the smile. "What?"
"Just thinking about what the doctor said."
He sat down next to her. "Told you. Everything’s gonna be just fine. Look we gotta do our part to keep the world from being populated with only little Iero's."
Alicia giggled, "Yeah, but they’re still gonna be one ahead of us."
Mikey kissed her neck, "Don't worry we'll do all we can to catch up." He nipped at her earlobe causing her to shudder.
Suddenly she turned to face him, "You really believe it's gonna be okay?"
He nodded, "Look, we know you might have some complications but you might not. Let's not look for bad shit to happen."
Alicia nodded, “You're right." She sat back.
Mikey wondered what she was contemplating. Finally he asked. "What?"
"I guess when you leave for Europe I'll just stay with Jamia again. Hell, we can talk babies."
"I'm no sure I'm going." Mikey said softly.
Alicia frowned, "Yeah you are, Michael. You're right we have to keep positive thoughts. I'm a pregnant woman who's gonna have a healthy baby girl. There is no reason for you not to go. Jamia and I will talk care of each other."
He was so shocked she wanted him to go that he almost missed the girl part. "Girl? We’re having a girl?"
Alicia nodded, "Yeah, I think so. No, I mean I know so."
"You know so." Mikey repeated
"I dreamed about her last night and she was beautiful." She leaned her head back on his chest and closed her eyes.
Mikey closed his eyes too. He wished with all his heart he could share in Alicia's dream. Instead his own dream of her in a hospital bed wouldn't leave his mind.

Kelly didn't see Luke until lunch. He had his head bent over his sketchbook and didn't see her approach. "Hey" she said taking the seat next to him.
He snapped the book closed, "Happy Birthday"
"Thanks. Mom and Dad gave me my gift this morning. It’s my own darkroom. Dad gave up part of his lair."
Luke laughed, 'His lair?"
"Yeah, that's what we call his space in the basement. It has all his junk down there."
"His junk?"
Kelly giggled, "Yeah, action figures, swords, comics."
"Sounds pretty rad to me." He paused then asked, "So am I still invited for dinner?"
"Yep. Sorry I couldn't call you last night but I got grounded. They took my phone and I can't use the computer."
"Wow, what a tough grounding" Luke teased.
"I think it is. I couldn't talk to you." She said softly.
"So I guess Gerard wants to talk to me." Luke tried not to sound nervous but he was.
"Hey, I told them the truth. I told them it was my idea to skip and my idea to go to your house."
“You didn't need to do that."
Kelly took a sip from her bottle of water, "Sure I did. I wasn't gonna let you take the blame. It was my idea."
"Any idea who ratted us out?" Luke asked.
She shook her head, "No, not really."
"You can bet it's one of your friends." Luke said glancing around. "Probably thought they were trying to save you from making the mistake of going off with me."
Kelly shrugged, "Whatever"
Luke shook his head. It amazed him she didn't care what her friends thought of him. "So what time to I have to face the music?"
Kelly giggled, "Dinner is at 6:00."