FicWad

Chapter 15

When Joe left, a lot was on Elaine’s mind. She sat and thought in her bunk bed all day. She knows that there needs to be a solution to her and Joe’s problem, but what would that be? She loves Joe and she knows that he loves her, but how could they be together if she can’t handle Joe’s fame? And what about their baby? How are they going to bring a baby into the world when not only do they not understand how to be good parents, but they also have the dilemma of how often they’ll each get to see the baby, with Joe’s crazy schedule. Plus, she doesn’t like the idea of her future child being in the public eye, let alone herself. It seems as though there are a million problems and not one of them is getting solved, contrary to what Elaine had hoped for when she decided to go to Europe.

All this thinking gave Elaine a headache so she decided to take a nap, but when she woke up she began thinking again. She eventually came to the conclusion that she’ll just have to trust Joe. Hopefully, with his help, they could come up with solutions that would be good for the both of them. But one she absolutely does not want to happen is to lose Joe in all of this. Elaine would go to the end of the earth if she had to, to keep the love of her life.

Meanwhile, just when FOB was finishing rehearsal, Patrick started feeling a little queasy. He tried to fight it, but it just got worse. They were right in the middle of their last song, “Saturday,” when it happened.

“Saturdayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, Saturdayyyyyyyyyyyy-uhhhhhh,” Patrick uncomfortably sang, holding his stomach.
“Dude, what was that?” asked Pete.
“I’m sorry, I’m not feeling very-oh God”

Patrick ran to the bathroom before he was able to finish his sentence.

“I’m so sorry guys I think we’re going to have to cancel tonight’s show,” Patrick said when he returned, nearly out of breath. “Must’ve been something I ate.”
“Dude, are you ok?” asked Joe.
“I think I’ll be ok by tomorrow. I just can’t go on tonight.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, unless you want to see me puke all over the stage.”
“Eww. No, that’s ok. You should get some rest.”
“I hope you feel better soon, Patrick,” said Pete
“Yeah feel better man,” said Andy.
“Thanks guys. Pete, can you go tell Dirty we’re cancelling?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks.”

Patrick, left, leaving the others behind.

“Aw man, people are going to hate us for cancelling on such short notice,” said Pete.
“I know, but what are we going to do? We can’t go on if Patrick is sick,” said Joe.
“Yeah, I hope he feels better. I hate to see my baby-- I mean my friend all sick and stuff.”
“Aw, does Petey have a crush on Patty?”
“Shut up, man! I do not have a crush on Patrick! Anyway, I have to go tell Dirty we’re cancelling.”
Cancelling the show was something they did not want to do, however, it would give Joe more time to spend with Elaine. He knew she would be happy to see him.

“Hey baby!” Joe said as he entered the bunk-bed section of the tour bus.
Elaine was not surprised to see him, as Patrick was already there and had told her what had happened.
“Hey Joe. I’m sorry the concert got cancelled.”
“Yeah poor Patrick got really sick all of a sudden.”
“I know, I hear him. I hope he’s going to be ok. He’s been throwing up a lot.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. Listen, I know we have a lot to talk about.”
“No kidding.”
“Yeah. Listen, I’m sorry about what happened today and what happened before with the picture. I should have been more aware of the situation.”
“That’s ok, Joe. I know you would never mean to hurt me. Besides, it wasn’t you who suggested we go out to that restaurant. It was my roommate. And she’s not to blame, either. How would she know there was going to be people taking pictures of us?”
“I know. It’s just that, I kind of feel responsible because I thought I saw people outside that night. I just didn’t say anything. I thought it was nothing, honest.”
“Hey, I know you didn’t realize what was going on, don’t worry about it.”
“Thank you.”

“Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, my stomach!” Patrick cried, interrupting Joe and Elaine’s conversation.

“Uh, I think we better go check-up on Patrick,” said Elaine in an alarmed tone.
“Yeah, we better.”

“Patrick, are you ok?” asked Elaine.

Patrick was doubled-over in pain, sitting on the couch. Andy and Pete surrounded him.

“Dude, you don’t look so good. I think we might have to take you to the hospital!” said Pete.
“No, I hate hospitals!” moaned Patrick.
“I know, but it just seems like you’re in too much pain.”
“I’ll be fi-- owwww!”
“I’m calling 911.”
Pete called for an ambulance while Joe, Elaine and Andy looked at each other, worried.

“I hope Patrick’s going to be ok,” said Joe, as Pete hung up.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” said Pete. “He probably just has food poisoning or something.”
“Yeah, I hope that’s all it is.”

At the hospital, Patrick was found to have something worse than was expected. It was a very rare condition and he needed to stay in the hospital for at least three days. He didn’t like this news at all, and neither did the rest of them. Of course, they were worried about his health but that also meant more show cancellations.

It also put a damper on Joe and Elaine’s time together. It’s bad enough they have so many problems of their own, now they’re concerned about Patrick on top of that.

The next day, Fall Out Boy plus Elaine visited Patrick in the hospital. He seemed appear a lot better, yet he was very weak. He was surrounded by flowers and get well cards sent by friends and family, as well as some of the fans who had attended last night’s cancelled show. Pete was the first to come up to the side of his bed.

“Hey Patrick, how’re you feeling?” he said in a soothing tone of voice.
“I’m feeling a little better,” Patrick slowly responded. “Turns out I have this thing called ‘campylobacteriosis’.”
“What the hell is that?”
“It’s this thing you get when you eat undercooked chicken. I guess I didn’t realize it wasn’t cooked enough when I ate it.”
“Oh, well that sucks!”
“Yeah, but I should be better in a few days. The doctor says I have to drink lots of fluids. The doctor also gave me this awful-tasting medication. It’s supposed to help me get better faster or something.”
“Oh. That’s good then.”
“Yeah. I just wish we didn’t have to cancel the next few shows.”
“None of us do. But what’s really important is you getting better.”
“Thanks man.”

Joe and Elaine were next to speak to Patrick.

“Hey Patrick?” Joe asked
“Yeah, hi Joe. What’s up?”
“Um, Elaine and I got this for you. Hope it will cheer you up.”

Joe handed Patrick a teddy bear holding a heart.

“What’s this?” laughed Patrick. “A valentine?”
“Squeeze its paw,” said Elaine.

Patrick squeezed its paw and it played the chorus one of Patrick’s favorite Prince songs, “Kiss.”
“Aw, thanks guys,” he chuckled. “This is so awesome.”
“No problem,” answered Joe. “We know how much you love Prince!”
“Ha-ha. That is so true.”
“Glad you like it,” said Elaine.
“I do. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“So how are things going with you two?”
“Um. Things are going pretty good,” answered Joe, being cautious not to give away too many details.
“Oh that’s good. So Elaine, how are you liking Europe so far?”
“Oh, I’m really enjoying it. Really, really loving it,” she responded, with a hint of nervousness.
“Yeah, it’s great, isn’t it?… Well, except for this part, obviously.”
“Absolutely. Joe and I are having a great time together, right sweetie?”
“Yeah. There’s no, no problems at all,” Joe stammered.
“Ok… that’s good,” Patrick said with a slightly suspicious look on his face.
“Um we’ll be right Patrick,” said Elaine.

Elaine took Joe out into the hall.

“Oh God, Joe,” she whispered. “I think he senses that there’s something up with us. I don’t want him to know about our problems.”
“Me neither, Elaine. But I mean, what are we supposed to do? They’ll all find out eventually. Especially when you start, um, showing.”
“Yeah, well obviously they’ll figure that one out, but what about all our other issues? I don’t want people that there are complications. It’s embarrassing.”
“Well maybe the only solution is to be upfront about it. Because hiding it is definitely not making it better. Plus, they’re our friends. They want us to be happy. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know that.”
“So lets not hide it anymore. We should announce it to the band. If they know you’re pregnant, they’ll want to help us with our problems. Besides, Pete already knows you’re pregnant, so what’s the harm in everyone else knowing?”
“It’s just that it happened so fast and I don’t want them to think that this is going to hinder your career or that it will make you leave the band or something.”
“I’m sure they won’t think that. They all love you and I know that they’ll be supportive of our situation. I promise.”
“Ok Joe. But only the band should know. I still don’t want the whole world to find out about it just yet.”
“Don’t worry about it. Trust me, no one but the band is going to know.”
“I trust you.”
“Good. We’ll tell them when Patrick gets out of the hospital.”
“Ok.”

Three days have past and Patrick is out of the hospital. He still feels a bit week but as far as his stomach is concerned, it’s much better. The boys plan to continue their European tour as scheduled. Their next stop is Paris, France.

Andy, Pete, and Patrick are sitting in the game room of their tour bus playing a new game on their Xbox called “Glory and Death,” while Joe and Elaine are making snacks in the kitchen.

“You think we should tell them now?” said Elaine.
“Maybe we should wait ‘til after they’re done playing.”
“I don’t think I could wait any longer, Joe.”
“But I thought you didn’t want to tell them in the first place.”
“Yeah, I didn’t but now, since you told me that we’re going to announce it, it’s the only thing that’s been on my mind. It’s driving me crazy.”
“Well, ok. But let me finish this cookie first.”
“Ok, hurry up.”

After Joe finished his cookie, the couple slowly walked into the room where the rest of the guys were.

“Hey guys,” said Andy. “We’re just playing “Glory and Death,” and I’m beating their asses!”
“Hey shut up, dude!” said Pete. “You know I’m totally owning you right now!”
“Actually guys, we came in because we have something important to tell you,” Joe said in a soft, yet nervous tone.

Pete, Andy, and Patrick put down their controllers and looked up.

“What is it?” asked Patrick, concerned.
“Well, I… Elaine and I are…we’re…”
“What? Just spit it out!”
“Pregnant. I’ve already told Pete but--”
“Pete, you knew about this?” asked Patrick.
“Yeah, but wait. I thought you wanted to keep it a secret for a while.”
“We did,” said Elaine. But see we’ve been having some issues and well, we thought it would be best if the rest of you knew so that we didn’t have so many secret problems building up.”
“Guys, you know you could always come to us with anything. You should have told us from the beginning. And how come you told Pete, and not the rest of us?” said Patrick.
“Patrick, I really didn’t mean anything by that. Pete was the first to ask about it when Elaine first told me she was pregnant.”
“Yeah, and I told Joe not to tell anyone else,” said Elaine. I don’t know… I just didn’t want everyone in the world to find out about it. I’ sorry guys, I should have trusted you. It’s just that it happened so soon and I was scared and didn’t know what to do.”
“I understand.”

Patrick turned to Joe.

“Wow, I can’t believe you’re going to be a father. It seems like just yesterday we were a couple of kids working at Borders, talking about heavy metal and dreaming of starting a band. I guess we’re all suddenly growing up, huh?”
“Yeah, it definitely seems that way.”
“Well, congratulations. You too, Elaine.”
“Thanks Patrick.”
“So how far along are you?”
“Only about two months now.”
“Do you know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl?” asked Andy.
“No, we want it to be a surprise,” said Joe.
“Oh, that’s cool.”
“So you guys said you were having some problems. What’s up?” asked Patrick
“Um it’s kind of complicated. We’re not sure how we’re going to raise the kid with different schedules and all plus we’re concerned about privacy and stuff like that. We don’t want our baby to get caught in the middle of the media. We just need a lot of help in general.”
“Well did either of you discuss this with your family? Maybe they could help you out.”
“Hey, you know what I think we should do, Joe?” said Elaine
“What?”
“After this tour, my family should get together with your family. That way we could all get to know each other better so that when the baby comes, it’ll be a better support system for all of us.”
“That sounds like a good idea. It’s just…”
“Just what?”
“I tend to get nervous when I meet a girl’s parents. What if they don’t like me. I mean, especially since I have that tattooed rockstar look.”
“Don’t be silly, my parents will love you, and I’m sure they’ll love your parents, too!”
“Well I’m not keeping my hopes up with them liking my parents.”
“Why not?”
“Let’s just say they’re a bit more open-minded than most people.”
“I’m sure it’ll be just fine. Stop worrying.”
“Yeah, don’t be so doubtful all the time,” said Andy.
“Ok. I’ll try.”
“Good. Then that’s the plan?” said Elaine
“Yeah. That’s the plan.”