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“Monica, are you okay?” Bert asked. “I’m sorry I tried to call earlier. I mean I guess I shouldn’t have just showed up like this.”
Kara walked up behind her Mom. “Hey, Bert.” She touched Monica on the arm. “I’m gonna head upstairs now.”
Monica realized she was going to go stay with Liv while Monica talked to Bert, “Oh, okay.” She plastered a smile on her face, “Bert, I’m just surprised to see you. Come on in.” She stepped back to allow him to enter,
Bert smiled uncertainly, “Uh, these still are for you.” He held out the flowers.
Monica took them from his outstretched hand, “Thank you. Still bringing me flowers?” She teased.
“Well, yeah.” He grinned, “Force of habit I guess.”
Monica led the way to the living room. She nodded, “Have a seat. I’m just gonna put these in water.” She continued towards the kitchen. Once there she quickly found a vase and filled it with water. Once the roses were in place she headed back to the living room. Bert smiled as she came in and took a seat next to him on the sofa.
“Sorry I just showed up.” He said again.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you know you’re always welcome.”
Bert tilted his head, “Uh, not sure Gee would agree with that. He was pretty pissed a me last time I saw him.”
Monica sighed, “Don’t worry about it.”
“I really was just trying to help.” Bert explained, “I know trying to keep Liv away from Bamboozle wasn’t really any of my business but.”
Monica held up her hand, “Let’s forget it, okay?”
“I guess it didn’t really matter since she just took off anyway.”
“True.” Monica said not meeting his eyes.
Bert studied her a moment, “Is everything okay? I mean between you and Gee?”
Monica nodded, “Things are fine.” She knew she had to appear as if nothing was troubling her, “Actually Gee and I are trying to adopt a baby.”
“A baby?” Bert said totally shocked by the announcement. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
His response shocked her, “No, why are you so surprised?”
Bert thought a minute before answering, “I don’t know I guess maybe cause you guys aren’t even married yet.”
Monica nodded, “True but this is a private adoption. We learned of a young girl who doesn’t feel ready to handle the responsibility of rising a child and wants to make sure her baby gets a good home.”
“Oh” Bert said slowly, “Man, Gee and a baby. I guess that’s cool.”
Monica smiled, “So I thought you were still in California recording.”
Bert leaned back and took out his cigarettes, “I fucking needed a break. We’ve been at it hard. Really come up with some good stuff but you know sometimes I just got to get away from it all for a while, kinda clear my head.”
“So you came here?” Monica teased, “I can think of better places to clear my head. Maybe a beach on some tropical island.”
Bert laughed, “Shit, I’m not much of a beach person. Not that I don’t like checking out all the hot chicks in bikini’s and all.”
“Uh yeah.” Monica teased, “I’m sure you’d enjoy that.”
“Yeah, well you know.” He grinned, “But I guess I really just wanted to come and see if you’ve heard anything about Liv.” He looked around, “So where’s Elle?”
Monica blinked, “Oh, she and Kelly are visiting Donna.”
Bert shook his head, “Yeah, I bet Donna loves having the chance to get to know her granddaughter.” He exhaled a stream of smoke, “I love Donna. She was always so nice to me back when Gee and I were first friends.”
“She’s like a mom to me.” Monica admitted, “And yeah, she loves having the chance to get to know Elle. Actually Kelly and Elle have been spending a lot of time with her and Don.”
Bert nodded, “Gee mentioned a while back that his mom and dad were close again.”
“Very close.” Monica said with a knowing look, “Don is living with her again.”
“Really?” Bert said, “That’s good. I like both of them. I’m glad to hear that. So what have you been up to?”
Monica shrugged, “Not much. We just had a bad scare concerning Frank. He had to leave the tour to come back to have his wisdom teeth removed and there was a mess up with his flight. He had to change planes and we didn’t know what flight he was on. The flight that crashed a few days ago?” He saw Bert nod he’d heard about it. “For a while we thought he might have been on that flight. Jamia was so upset it threw her into premature labor.”
“Shit” Bert said, “She’s okay, isn’t she?”
Monica smiled, “Yeah, and once Frank got home she was better than okay.”
“So he’s still in town?” Bert asked.
“Yeah, and I get the feeling he’s not gonna rejoin the tour. I really can’t see him leaving her side until the babies are born.”
Kara appeared in the doorway, “Mom can I see you a minute?”
Monica stood, “Be right back” She said to Bert before following Kara out into the hall.
Monica and Kara moved away from the living room. “What’s wrong?” Monica asked in a whisper.
“I told Liv that Bert is here. She wants to see him.”
Monica was shocked, “Really?”
Kara nodded sadly, “Yeah, she said she wants to tell him goodbye.” Her voice trembled.
Monica closed her eyes a moment then nodded. “Let me talk to him first then I’ll being him up.” She took a deep breath then returned to the living room. Bert looked up and saw her face.
“Monica?” he said softly, “What the fuck is going on?”

Gerard leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He was exhausted. The show tonight had taken a lot out of him. The audience had been so into the music that he smiled remembering the last song and how it hadn’t wanted it to end. He was just starting to drift off when Mikey spoke.
“It was a great show, wasn’t it?” Mikey said getting in the van.
“Yeah, fucking great but I’m tired.” Gerard opened his eyes, “Miss Frank though.”
“Yeah, never seems right without him.” Mikey agreed. “I just wanna get back to the hotel, call Alicia then go to sleep. Fuck, I wish we didn’t have to catch the flight so early in the morning.”
Gerard agreed, “This tour has been sorta brutal. At least we have a few days before the next show. If we didn’t have to get to the next stop for all the interviews and shit we could have just stayed here.”
“I’ll be glad when the break comes.” Mikey said looking over at his brother. “You and Monica planning anything special?”
Gerard smiled. He leaned over and whispered, “This has to stay between you and me.”
Mikey nodded, “Okay.”
Gerard looked around to make sure no one else was listening, “We’re gonna fly to Vegas and get married.”
“What? Really? But what about the wedding invitations you guys sent out?”
“We’re still gonna have that wedding. Monica and I just want what you and Alicia had when you guys got married in Vegas. You know just for ourselves.”
Mikey smiled, “That’s great, man.”
Gerard leaned back in his seat, “Yeah, I can’t wait. I love her so fucking much.”
“I know you do.” Mikey said, “Ever think things would turn out like this when you first met her.”
Gerard laughed softly, “Well our first meeting didn’t exactly go well but you know when I think back even then there was just something about her that attracted me.” He thought a minute, “I think it was her eyes. They are so gently.”
“Yeah, she’s really special.” Mikey leaned over and surprised his brother with a hug, “We’re both fucking lucky we have such great women.”
Gerard hugged him back, “Yeah, we are.”