FicWad

“Come in Frank”, Monica said stepping back and allowing him to enter.
“Hey, Bert” he said with a nod.
Bert nodded in return, “I’m gonna go back upstairs.” He mumbled.
Frank waited until he disappeared before speaking, “Monica, I’m serious. Gee needs to know what’s going on. Shit, especially with Bert here. You know Liv has always caused friction between them.”
“Because they both loved her.” Monica said walking slowly towards the living room. “They both still love her.” She added softly.
Frank caught up with her and touched her arm, “Monica, Gee loves you. Don’t tell me you really don’t know that.”
She nodded, “Oh I know that. I also know Liv still has a hold on his heart.” She took a seat on the sofa, “You know that too.”
Frank sat down next to her. “Monica do you think it was the right decision to bring her here?”
Monica’s anger flared, “Yeah, I do. I don’t understand why people can’t see it was the only choice. She is Elle’s mother.” She took a breath, “My daughter’s birth mother. She has no one in the world but Elle. How the fuck could I just let her go off to die alone?”
Once again Frank touched her arm, “Calm down, I didn’t mean it like it sounded. I’m just thinking about you. Liv has caused friction between you and Gee too. Taking care of her has to be hard for you.”
The stress was making it hard for Monica to control her emotions, “Yeah, it’s hard. I look at her and I wonder what would happen if she weren’t dying. Would I lose Gee to her? Yeah, probably I would. He would go back to her, his first love. So then I get to hate myself for thinking like that cause when I do there is a small part of me that’s happy I don’t have to worry about it.”
Frank moved closer to her and put his arms around her. He simply hugged her for several minutes while she cried, “Monica, I don’t believe for one minute Gee would ever give you up. That man loves you so fucking much. If he’s in love with Liv at all it’s just because he can’t let go of the past and that is what she is. She’s his past. You are his life now.”
“Oh I want to believe that so much.” Monica whispered, “I just hate this. I’ve gotten to really know her Frank. She had a brutal past.” She sat up and wiped her eyes, “She was only sixteen when she and Gerard got together.”
Frank gave her a shocked look, “Sixteen?”
“Yeah, sixteen.”
“Fuck” Frank said slowly, “Gee didn’t know.”
“She said she told him she was nineteen. Look I know that they need to talk. He needs to hear about her past, not from me but from Liv. Bert and I are both trying to make her understand.”
“Bert is really trying to make her understand?” Frank questioned softly, “Are you sure? The history between the three of them is brutal, you know that right?”
“Yeah, I know. I know how hard it this is for him. He’s love Liv a long time but it was Gee she wanted, it is Gee she loves.”
Frank leaned back against the sofa, “Man, this is all so wrong. She’s so young to be dying. I just wish there was something I could say or do to help.”
“Unless we can get her to change her mind there isn’t anything to do. I made a promise to her that I will keep, I’ll keep it knowing how much it will hurt Gee and that breaks my heart.” Monica said in a whisper, “I just hope he doesn’t hate me for it.”
Frank shook his head sadly, “He’ll never hate you for his Monica but he will be hurt.”

“Frank leave?” Bert asked walking into the kitchen and seeing Monica sitting alone at the kitchen table.
“Yeah, he just left.”
“Hey, why don’t you go over to Donna’s and visit Elle? Bert said slipping into the chair next to hers, “I’m not going anywhere so you don’t need to worry about leaving Liv.”
Monica sighed, “No, you are the one who needs to get out for a while. I was gone for hours this morning.”
“Monica, go see Elle. I want to be here with Liv. I’m not gonna leave her side.” He said, “Really, go over and have dinner with Kelly and Elle.”
“Kara’s over there right now too.” Monica told him, “She just called.”
“Well then get you cute ass over there.” Bert tired to make her smile, “Liv and I will be just fine.”
“Have you mentioned to her about talking to Gee?” Monica asked looking down at her folded hands.
Bert sighed, “I told her she needs to talk to him. She was saying how bad she felt about fucking up his life. I told her that she needs to talk to him so that he understands why she acted like she did.”
“Did she tell you about her past?”
“Not really. Just that she’s from some small town in Texas.”
Monica shook her head, “Yeah.” She lowered her voice, “Bert, she’s only twenty.”
“What? No’ that’s not right. Liv’s older than that.” He said shaking his head.
“She’s twenty.” Monica told him “She told me.”
“Holy fuck.” Bert muttered, “That means she was just sixteen when Gee and I first met her.”
Monica simply nodded.
“Shit.” Bert said. He took Monica’s hand in his, “I promise I’ll talk to her again about Gee. Now go spend some time with your daughters.”

Monica had a nice dinner with Kelly, Kara, Elle, The Way’s and Luke. She didn’t even question her daughters about leaving school. She understood that both of them were under a lot of stress. After dinner Monica had taken Elle for a walk and even gave her a bath before leaving. She missed having Kelly and Elle at home. It had been so hard to leave them. She had almost broken into tears when Elle asked her when her mommy was going to come get her.
Arriving home she walked into the kitchen and saw Bert standing by the sink staring out the window. “Bert, you okay?” She asked.
He nodded, “Yeah, she’s sleeping now but she said she wanted to talk to you when you got home.”
“I’ll look in on her then I’m gonna lay down for a bit and wait for Gee to call.” Monica said starting for the stairs. She turned, “Sure you’re okay?”
Bert took out a cigarette and lit it, “Fuck, no. But stop worrying about me.” He gave her a weak smile.
Monica went up the back stairs and moved towards Liv’s room. She stood in the doorway and watched Liv for a moment.
“I’m awake.” Liv said opening her eyes. “It’s weird I only sleep for such short amounts of time. You’d think my body would just want to go to sleep and stay that way.”
Monica moved towards the bed, “Bert said you wanted to talk to me.”
Liv looked over at her, “Yeah, I’ve been thinking a lot about my life.” She took a deep breath, “Guess that’s what dying people do.”
Lowering herself in the chair Monica said nothing. She waited for Liv to continue.
“There are so many things I wish I could go back and do over, you know? But I can’t. I almost destroyed Gee because I loved him so much. How fucked up is that? Maybe I can fix one fucked up part of my life before it’s over.” She closed her eyes.
“What Liv?” Monica asked quietly.
“Tell him Monica. Tell him that if it’s what he wants I’d like to talk to him before I die.”
Monica closed her eyes and lowered her head. “I’ll tell him when he calls.”

“Hey, Gee.” Monica sat down on her bed and felt her hands shaking. In her heart she knew this would be one of the most difficult conversations she would ever endure.
“Hey, sorry I didn’t get a chance to call sooner. We had a Meet & Greet after the concert that wasn’t scheduled. There was some mix up. So tell me more about your meeting with Sarah. What’s she like?”
Monica took a deep breath and tired to calm her nerves. “Gee, there’s something else we need to talk about. Something I have to tell you.”
Gerard knew immediately by the tone of her voice something was very wrong. “Monica, what is it?”
Her hands began to shake even more and tears filled her eyes. “It’s about Liv.”