It's A Wonderful Life, Mr. Way

With Monday morning came Christmas Day, and Gerard awakened before Andie to the familiar scent of Christmas morning at his parents' house. His mom was making cinnamon pancakes, and the scent wafted through the house, even reaching the basement where they slept.

He glanced at the bedside clock, noting it was already 10:23. But his gaze soon stopped on Andie's sleeping face. She looked so peaceful...his Christmas angel...and he gently brushed her dark hair out of her face. She slowly blinked her eyes open and tried to focus.

"It's Christmas, Honey," Gerard quietly informed her as she awoke.

"Mmm..." Andie groaned as a lazy smile crept across her lovely face. "Merry Christmas, Baby."

He kissed her forehead as they slipped their arms around one another, snuggling in the warmth they shared under the covers in the cold room. Gerard then rubbed her back, as he assured her, "You know, I don't even care about doing anything else to celebrate Christmas. I've got all I need right here."

*Soundtrack: "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by My Chemical Romance
Think Happy Thoughts Christmas Playlist 1

"But...Santa came, Gerard," Andie insisted against his chest, quietly at first. "I know he did."

Gerard pulled back to look at her. "Are you alright?"

She lifted her head up to him, revealing a wild grin, suddenly wide awake at the revelation of the day. "C'mon...Let's go!"

Gerard watched as Andie seemed to spring to life and ran up the stairs, leaving him lying in the bed alone, dumbfounded. Well, he'd be damned. He jumped out of bed and scaled the stairs two at a time, trying to catch up with her. But when he reached the top, he didn't see her anywhere. So he ran into the kitchen to find his mom, making those delicious pancakes.

"Where'd she go??" he hurriedly asked his mom.

"What?? What's wrong with you??" Donna turned around to look at her frazzled son with a puzzled expression on her face. But he'd taken off again, and was running down the hall, looking in every room, calling her name.

"Andie!...Andie!"

He accidently opened the bathroom door on his dad. "DAMNIT, GERARD!"

"Sorry, Dad!!" Gerard apologized with wide eyes, turning down the corners of his mouth.

When he reached the end of the hallway, though, he put on his brakes and bounded to a stop in the living room...to see Andie...sitting on the floor in front of the Christmas tree with...A HAMSTER IN THE HAMSTER CAGE HE NEVER GOT TO USE!!

"AHH!! Jesus! Andie! When did you do this??" He beamed as he fell to his knees upon the floor with her beside the hamster cage.

Andie shook her head, just laughing at Gerard's excitement as her nose wrinkled.

"Oh look at him! He's so cute!" Gerard put his finger to the side of the cage. "Wait. Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Boy," Andie replied with confidence, then reconsidered. "At least...that's what they told me, anyway. Take him out! Look! I got a little ball for him!"

"Oh man! I love him!" Gerard was like...a kid on Christmas.

Andie watched him as he took the furry little brown and white hamster out of his cage, and he ran his finger along the back of his soft head.

"Oh, he's so cute!" Gerard said as he put him in the gray ball Andie was holding, and she closed the lid, letting him go.

Overwhelmed at her thoughtfulness, Gerard grabbed Andie in a hug as they sat on the floor facing each other.

"How did you do this??" he asked over her shoulder, squeezing her tight.

"Your mom... She told me you always wanted one." Andie pulled back and brushed his hair to the left of his forehead. "I got him when I went with Jamia Saturday night."

"But...when we're on the road... Who's gonna take care of him?" Gerard's shoulders slumped.

"Me." Don came into the room as he scolded his son. "And you need to learn how to knock on a goddamn door!"

"I'm really sorry!" Gerard apologized to his dad again, before he turned back to Andie. "But...I can't give you your present until everyone's in here..."

"That's okay. I don't care. I just had to let him get out!" Andie exclaimed, before they watched as the hamster in his ball, rolling around on the floor and bumping into his own cage.

"Oooh...he's a bright one, too," Gerard teased.

"Are you all about ready to eat?" Donna asked from the kitchen door, surveying the scene herself.

As they ate breakfast that morning, Gerard placed the hamster back in his cage...just in case. And afterward, Gerard, Andie, Don, and Donna all sat in the living room, exchanging their own Christmas gifts. On the floor with his hamster in the ball again, Gerard handed Andie and his mom their identical gifts. He then sat back and watched with his own anticipation as they opened the gift bags.

"What in the world??" Donna asked as she and Andie opened the matching envelopes together. "A day spa treatment??"

Andie dramatically read the description aloud as she smiled. "'Le Cachet Spa Deluxe: FULL body scrubs, HOUR LONG massages, facials, manicures and pedicures... Gerard...this sounds sooo good."

"Hey, you two deserve to relax." Gerard smiled at his mom and Andie from the floor, as Andie came down from the sofa to join him, and she hugged him, kissing his ear.

"Thank you, Baby. This is great... And I have ONE more thing for you."

"What? Besides him??" Gerard was already blown away at finally getting a hamster.

Andie had waited until everyone was finished opening their gifts, because she had a feeling she knew what his reaction would be after he opened this one. She handed Gerard another gift bag from under the tree, then watched as he took the tissue paper out, and grabbed what appeared to be a blank cd.

"What's this?" he asked as he turned it over and read the tracks listed in Andie's distinctive cursive handwriting.

With some help from Ray during their long roadtrips, Andie had not only recorded her piano solo of "I Don't Love You" from the back of the bus, but she'd recorded several other tracks of herself playing her digital piano...for Gerard. Some of the songs included "The Seasons: Song of Autumn", "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "Helena", "Welcome to the Black Parade", "Famous Last Words", "The Sharpest Lives", "Cancer", and "This Is How I Disappear".

Gerard was floored. And he thought the hamster was amazing. When he bought her that digital piano months ago, he had hoped she would, someday, be interested in recording herself. If nothing else, for her own use. But for her to do ALL of this...for him? He was speechless.

"This is so incredible, Andie..." Gerard stared at her. "I have to go hear them...NOW."

Gerard and Andie took the yet unnamed hamster with them, and they went downstairs to listen to Andie's cd on the stereo. But Mr. Way could not believe the details and strength of the songs that he, otherwise, knew so well...though as Andie had portrayed them on piano alone.

It truly was a memorable Christmas for both Gerard and Andie at the Way house.

The Way household spent a great deal of Christmas Day just relaxing, especially after the busy their Christmas Eve. And Gerard and Andie spent most of their time downstairs in his familiar room, playing with the hamster, then taking another nap. But when Gerard listened a second time to the tracks she and Ray recorded, he knew very well that she'd worked on this just for him. And he truly appreciated this Christmas gift, perhaps more than any other...ever.

Even this time, as he listened to them again, he remained so overwhelmed by how damn GOOD they turned out. And, being Gerard, he just didn't understand how she could NOT want to share that with every fucking person she knew.

When she crawled over the bed to find him sitting on the floor beside it, she played with the back of his hair, apparently startling him. He then gave her this look, as though he had something terribly important to ask her.

"Honey...PLEASE tell me you'll let me send these to the guys...at LEAST," Gerard pleaded with Andie. "And Brian... Brian HAS to hear them."

Andie considered. She knew them all so well now, that it wasn't like randomly sharing her music with just anyone. And she was already quite comfortable playing WITH them, so...

"Alright. Fine. But that's all. None of your other buddies," Andie had to lay down the law. "Oh, and send it to Jamia."

"Oh-ho-ho! But NO hesitation there at all, huh?" Gerard teased, waving his hand in the air.

So Andie shoved him...hard. But if she wanted to wrestle, she chose the wrong opponent in Gerard. Silly woman. She should know these things by now... He recovered from her shove, then stood over the bed, raising his eyebrows at her challenge...before he grabbed her sides, tickling her as she wriggled and protested.

Soon, Gerard left Andie's small frame rumpled on the bed, her hair tousled, her sides aching, as he sat at the computer, ripping the cd. And as she moaned something he couldn't understand, probably cursing him, he emailed the tracks to each of the guys, Brian, and Jamia.

The subject line read: "Happy Christmas to ME! from Andie"

He left off any text correspondence except for Ray's, which said, "Thanks, man. This is priceless. I owe you. BIG."

Andie was lying across the bed on her side, watching Gerard with a scowl. But the faint sound of her cellphone ringing interrupted the brief silence. She hesitated, trying to recall where she'd left it, then tried to find the tiny black purse she'd taken to mass the night before. It was hidden...somewhere...beneath a mess of her and Gerard's clothes on the floor. The call had already went to her voicemail when she finally dug out the device. Checking the number, she called her mother back.

"Merry Christmas, Mama!" Andie said into the phone.

As she continued telling Diana about Midnight Mass and the yet to be named hamster, who was now sleeping peacefully in his cage, Gerard typed a separate email to Brian. He had a couple of small favors to ask of his good friend once again...

When Diana asked to speak to Gerard, he quickly clicked "send", and lowered the browser before Andie could see. HA. He still had it.

Diana wished Gerard a Merry Christmas, then told them both not to worry about trying to come to Chicago between the holidays. Since Andie's deposition was in a couple of weeks, they would simply wait until then to have a proper Christmas.

Feeling as though they were being hermits and ignoring his parents, Gerard and Andie finally came upstairs later that afternoon to find Don, in Mikey's old room, putting together his new treadmill...and cursing at it. Since he was now retired, and since Donna couldn't take her morning walks on days when the weather wasn't cooperative, Gerard and Andie had given them the treadmill together for Christmas. They gingerly offered to help, but Don would have no part of it. This was a goddamn mission to him now.

Donna was napping peacefully on the couch as her new DVD of "Gone With the Wind" played to a less than captive audience. So Gerard and Andie quietly snuck into the kitchen where Andie started a pot of coffee and Gerard took out the leftovers from the night before. When the home phone rang, he checked the caller ID before he answered it. Mikey.

"Hey man! Happy Christmas!"

Still in Missouri with Alicia, celebrating the holiday with her family, Mikey talked with his brother awhile, cementing the plans to get together with everyone at their usual practice spot over the next day for their own annual Christmas get-together. They also confirmed with each other the times they were meeting with the MTV execs in New York on Friday, as the plans for the guys' performance on New Year's Eve would need to be finalized beforehand. But soon Gerard was handing the phone to Andie so Mikey could wish her good tidings as well.

"Merry Christmas to you, too...little brother!" she playfully emphasized, laughing at Mikey on the other end.

While she and Mikey constantly teased about being siblings, Andie honestly felt a difference in their relationship as opposed to the rest of the guys. It wasn't necessarily stronger, just different. She was just as close to Bob, Frank, and Ray, each in their own way. But Mikey felt...like family. And she truly wished Gerard's brother had been there in Jersey to celebrate the holiday with them.

When Andie and Mikey were finished talking, she took the phone in to Don, who had made some progress assembling the treadmill, and welcomed the break to talk to his youngest son.

Later that evening, Gerard and Andie decided to get out and see the new horror movie that started playing that Christmas day. They finally changed out of their pajamas, showered, and donned skinny jeans, hoodies, and sneakers. And soon they were hopping into Gerard's cold SUV for the short drive to Newark. As they reached Newark Screens on Springfield, they stood in line with a small crowd, buying their tickets for, what else? "Black Christmas."

Inside the theater, they climbed the steps to the very top row together. And once they sat down with their concession stand goodies, the couple slipped off their coats.

Now, sometimes, in his hometown, or in Newark, someone would occasionally recognize Gerard...like that day long ago at Newark International with Andie. But today? Nothing. Not a single second glance. And this was a very good thing. He kinda figured the new look would buy him at least until New Year's...but maybe longer.

Andie made a face and took a drink of her soda as she swallowed one of her Jelly Belly's that wasn't quite what she had in mind. She studied the back of the package, trying to figure out which one she just ate, so she could pick them all out...and give them to Gerard. And as the movie started, the young couple slumped down in their seats together, watching the remake of the 1974 horror flick.

Later that night, just as Gerard and Andie were comfortable and relaxed in bed together, the hamster started gnawing on one of his plastic tubes. The couple stared at each other as they listened to the grating sound of their new, nocturnal friend.

After several minutes, the sound stopped and they smiled at each other as they closed their eyes once more.

But the hamster had crawled over to his exercise wheel, and it squeaked rhythmically as he ran in place inside it. Gerard and Andie opened their eyes and stared at each other once more, as the hamster just kept going...

After some time, a defeated Gerard threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. He dropped some food in his furry friend's cage, with the theory that the food would keep him occupied...but quiet.

Not so.

Gerard climbed back in bed next to Andie, and pulled the warm covers up over him again before she snuggled up against his chest. But no sooner were they comfortable again, than the furry little hamster dug around in his bedding and against the plastic walls, as he busied himself...burying the food in piles of shavings.

Andie studied Gerard's discontent expression, and laughed lightly in front of him as she touched his smooth cheek.

"I'm glad you think this is funny." Gerard gave her a smirk.

"I was just thinking...so a hamster annoys us at night? And we said we wanted to have a baby someday?"

Gerard shook his head and blinked slowly. "That's different."

"Yeah..." Andie agreed with a slow nod. "They're much louder."