FicWad

“Was Gee on a flight yet?” was the first thought Monica had as she awakened. She hoped he had gotten onto the early flight so that he would be home all the sooner. She wanted so badly to feel his arms around her.
Bert and Liv were both still sleeping when she passed the guest bedroom. Once again she was surprised to see that Kara had started the coffee when she arrived in the kitchen.
“I’m taking off now.” Kara told her, “I’ve got an assignment to make up.” She looked over at her mom. “I was thinking I might just stay at Donna’s tonight.”
Monica was surprised but quickly realized why, “Don’t want to see Gerard?”
Kara sighed, “I just think I’ve seen enough drama lately. I mean he’s gonna get here late and then leave in the morning and I’ll just be in the way.”
Sadly Monica shook her head, “Do what you think is best.”
“Look, I know how upset he is. I just don’t want to have to deal with it. Are you mad at me?” Kara asked turning to face her mom.
“No, it’s okay, I understand.” Monica walked over and gave her a hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Kara stepped back and looked into her mom’s eyes. “Are you sure? I’ll come home if you want me to.”
“Stay at Donna’s.” Monica said with a smile. “You’re right. It’s gonna be pretty unhappy here. I just hope that Gerard and Bert both understand how important it is that they get along for Liv’s sake.”
“I already told you I would behave.” Bert said walking towards the coffee pot. “If you want, I’ll check into a hotel tonight.”
Kara gave her mom a wave and headed out the back door.
“You’re not going to do that.” Monica said softly. “It’s important you are here for Liv. Once Gerard talks to her I’m sure you’ll want to stay with her like you’ve been doing.”
Bert nodded looking down at the fresh coffee he’d just poured, “She told me she feels better knowing I’m that close when she sleeps.”
Monica smiled sadly, “I know it means so much to her that you’re here.”
Bert looked up angrily, “Yeah, but as soon as he gets here, he’ll be all she wants.”
Monica was surprised by his anger. “Stop it. Liv wants you here. Don’t ever think you don’t have a very special place in her heart because you do. I’ve seen how she acts around you.”
Bert looked uncertain, “I really wanna believe that.” He took a sip of coffee, “She told me about some of the things that happened to her when she was young. She told me about her mom.”
Monica nodded, “I felt so bad for her when she told me about her past.”
Bert looked at Monica closely, “I would like to hunt down that son of a bitch and kill him.”
“I know how you feel.” She stood, “I’m so restless waiting for Gee. If it’s okay with you I think I’ll go visit Christa. See how she’s doing moving into the new house.”
“Sure, do ahead. I’m gonna make Liv a piece of toast and try to get her to eat it. Don’t worry about us.”
Monica nodded, “I’ll be back around noon. Call me if you need anything, okay?”
“We’ll be fine.” He moved towards the toaster, “Monica, are you sure I shouldn’t just go somewhere, just for tonight?”
“I’m sure. You belong right here.” She gave him a tight hug, “Liv needs you and so do I.”

“Come in.” Donna stood back so Monica could enter, “I didn’t know you were going to stop by.”
Monica gave Donna a hug before walking inside. “Since Bert is talking care of Liv I just thought I’d get out for a bit. I think I’ll stop by Christa’s and see how she’s doing.”
Donna looked at Monica closely, “This is taking such a toll on you.” She could tell by the dark circles under Monica’s eyes that she wasn’t sleeping well. “You’ve lost weight.”
Monica sighed, “I’m okay, really. Having Bert there is been such a help to me and Liv.”
“You and Liv have gotten close, haven’t you?”
“We have and that’s what making this so much harder.” She was about to say more when Don and Elle walked into the room.
“Mommyca” Elle launched herself into Monica’s arms.
“How’s my Bug?” Monica hugged her tightly.
“Me dood.” Elle said happily.
“Wanna go with me to visit Christa in her new house?”
Elle nodded happily. Monica sat her down.
“Mes drew a piture for Trista.”
“You did?” Monica said with a smile. “Well go get it.”
Elle took off for her room downstairs.
“Good to see you.” Don said to Monica. He walked over and gave her a hug.
Monica hugged him back, “Good to see you too.” She needed to tell them about Gerard before Elle got back, “Gee is coming home to see Liv.” She said quickly.
“What?” They both said in unison.
“He’ll be here sometime this evening. Liv let me tell him.”
“Thank God for that.” Donna said “But what about the tour?”
“He’s just gonna be here until tomorrow morning. He just wants to see her.” She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘before it’s too late’.”
Don nodded, “I’m glad you don’t have to carry the burden of silence anymore.”
They all heard Elle coming back up the stairs.
“I’ll bring her back in a few hours.” Monica said as Elle ran over to show her the picture.
“That’s beautiful, Baby.” Monica said looking at Elle’s artwork for Christa. “Ready to go?”
They walked to the door with Don and Donna following. Donna hugged Monica tightly and whispered in her ear, “Tell Gee we love him, okay?”
Monica nodded, “I will.”
“And we love you.” Donna added with a smile, “Very much.”

“Hey guys.” Christa said throwing open the door, “This is a nice surprise.”
“Hope you don’t mind we just stopped by without calling first.” Monica said as she and Elle walked into the house.
“Of course not.” Christa said. She hugged Monica “I’m glad you’re here.” She stepped back, squatted down and hugged Elle, “How’s Bug today?”
“Dood.” Elle said then held out the drawing.
Christa took it and smiled, “For me?”
Elle nodded.
“Well thank you. This is beautiful. I love flowers. You know what? I’m gonna put this on my fridge. This will be the very first artwork I put there.” She took Elle’s hand and led her to the kitchen. Finding a magnet she placed the picture in the center of the refrigerator door then stood back. “See how beautiful that makes it look?”
Elle’s smile lit up the room.
“Come on. I’ll give you both a tour of the house so you can see how much I’ve gotten done. She led the way starting on the ground floor then she showed them the upstairs. Monica was impressed with what she had already gotten accomplished. Elle was happy when she saw that Christa had unpacked Ray’s stuffed animals.
When they returned to the ground floor Christa popped in a Disney movie for Elle to watch so she could talk to Monica. As she was doing that Monica noticed the laptop on the coffee table. YouTube was on the screen. The video was paused but the title was “MCR in Paris Ray Sings”.
“Let’s go into the kitchen.” Christa said mentally kicking herself for not closing the laptop.
“Is that from last night?” Monica said nodding towards the laptop.
“Yeah.” Christa said softly.
“Can I watch it?” Monica asked.
Christa picked up the laptop and carried it into the kitchen. She placed it on the table then moved to get Monica a cup of coffee. Monica un-paused the video and watched Ray singing “Cancer.” When Christa returned to the table she saw the look of despair on Monica’s face.
“He couldn’t sing it, could he?”
Christa shook her head; “Ray took over for him on that song.”
Monica glanced away, “He’s going to be so devastated when she dies.” She blinked, “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to help him.”