Best Man

Caroline's car practically skidded across the icy road as she made a sharp left turn into the driveway with Dave beside her in the passenger seat and Nef flopping around in the backseat.

"Are you trying to kill us or has suckass driving become a recent hobby for you?" Dave snipped, though not angrily. He was just very confused what had gotten Caroline all flustered at the grocery store, Tops Markets.

"I gotta talk to Mike," she muttered in a distracted response as turned off the ignition, undid her seatbelt and jumped out of the car with her purse and none of the shopping bags.

"I think I shit myself," Nef joked as he began to gather the bags from the backseat with Dave's help.

"And you couldn't use your cell phone?" Dave questioned his ex-girlfriend further as she began walking to the side door and only entrance into the house.

"Has to be done in person. Thanks for getting the bags," she replied quickly; inside the house before her bandmates could blink an eye.

"You are very welcome, Your Highness," Dave retorted, sarcastically, but out of her earshot.

Once she was indoors, Caroline chucked her purse onto the kitchen table and ran into the dining room and then to the living room in hopes of finding Mike, but he wasn't there.

"Mike?"

"Upstairs!" came the response, seemingly out of nowhere.

Tilting her head up toward the ceiling, Caroline began to shed herself of her winter coat and gloves; letting them fall carelessly to the floor without a second thought as she scurried to the hallway and took the stairs two at a time.

"Mike! You will not believe what happened! Oh god, you won't even guess!" she called out as she reached the second floor; slightly winded.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed open their bedroom door to find Mike sprawled out on the bed, wearing his blue, plaid pajama pants and a dark blue, thermal shirt that brought out the deep blue in his eyes very well. He laid there with one arm under his head and the other resting on his chest and holding onto a remote while he watched television in bed.

"Did you rob the store?" Mike guessed when he looked up at her entering form.

Wide-eyed and barely able to contain the knowledge she had, Caroline shook her head vigorously. "Nope."

"You ran into some high school friends that looked down on you when you were a teenager and you made them feel like shit now because you're a hot, famous rock star, engaged to a sexy man like myself?"

Caroline emitted a giggle from her lips, but shook her head once again. "Despite the truth in the statement in regard to us...nope."

Mike rolled his eyes in thought, focusing on a spot on the ceiling before looking back at her with a grin. "You found your birth parents?"

"Close, but no cigar."

With that, Mike slowly sat up, muted the television and set the remote on the nightstand to his right. "What do you mean 'close, but no cigar?' Did you find something out about your birth parents then...if you didn't find them, that is?"

"No. I mean, the whole 'finding the birth parents' part is on the money...it's just..." she trailed impishly as she edged closer to the bed and knelt down at the base of the mattress and then sitting back on the heels of her feet.

"Just what, Care? The anticipation is killing me here."

Smiling so feathery soft, Caroline's heart grew at what she knew and was so happy to share it with him. She got on her hands and knees and worked up the bed so that she was beside him, pulling his hands into hers as she looked him in the eyes.

"Mike..." she began. "I found your mother."

"My...what?"

"Your mother," she repeated. "Your birth mother. She's been living here in Buffalo for the last thirty-five years. She's actually from here, originally."

"I don't understand."

"Her name's Lucy Reinhardt. She's fifty-three and works in a grocery store's bakery, full-time. She was married for fifteen years and had a son named Shawn, who's twenty-one now and goes to college part-time. And, Mike...you look just like her. It's like, if you looked in a mirror, she'd be your reflection."

Mike's lips parted as he took this in as his expression grew distant. Suddenly it felt as if all the blood was rushing to his face; he felt so flushed. His mouth went dry, so he licked his lips.

He just didn't know how to respond.

"Are...are you sure?"

"I'm positive," Caroline nodded. "We got talking -- don't ask how -- and she opened up about having run away with her boyfriend to San Francisco when she was sixteen to be hippies and how she got into drugs and then got pregnant. She told me how her boyfriend left her and she never knew what happened to him and then how she gave birth to a baby boy on May 4th of 1972, when she was seventeen...and how she named her son Michael Ryan after her dad and her boyfriend," she explained further, then added, "Your father."

Mike's chin quivered faintly as tears began to well up in his eyes. "Does she know about me?"

Caroline nodded. "She does now," she answered. "Lucy said she'd felt so completely horrible about the circumstances surrounding your birth and felt you'd be better off without her. She didn't want to ruin your life any further than she believed she had so she gave you away in hopes someone could give you what she couldn't. A roof over your head, clothes on your back and food in your stomach." Caroline reached a hand out and cupped the left side of Mike's face. "I showed her a photo of you and me together and when I told her that her story of the son she gave up and the story of how you came into the world matched up perfectly, she cried. She honestly cried."

Mike looked down, finding a spot on the bedspread to focus on as his lips parted again and his eyebrows raised with mixed emotions. "Does she know how shitty my childhood tended to be, without her being there? How her being on fucking drugs while she was pregnant fucked my health up? How there wasn't a day that went by when I wondered that, despite her giving me up and how she fucked my health up because she was so stupid, that I wanted her to come back and find me and take me away when my mom and dad were fighting or when things just got plain hard?"

Caroline tilted her head. Even though Mike's story of his birth was more common than hers, Caroline certainly had a better childhood than he did. The stories he told her or she heard from others, she just wanted to go back in time and hold his six-year-old self and tell him everything was going to be okay.

Sometimes, he still looked like the six-year-old boy she'd seen pictures of. The way he looked when he was sad or confused, the way he looked so peaceful and innocent when he slept, and the way he loved so unconditionally like a child could.

"I'm pretty damn sure she does, Mike," Caroline assured. "She might not know the details of how you grew up, but she knows you had to have asked those questions. The whys and how comes." She then added, "There's not a day that went by that she didn't think of you and regret her mistakes. She thinks about where you are, what you've become...every day. She even gave her other son, Shawn, your first name as his middle name. Shawn Michael."

"I thought Michael was after her dad."

"You being named Michael was after her father, but your half-brother's middle name being Michael was after you."

"D'you think this Shawn knows his mother had another child?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Because I met him when he came to pick his mom up when she was done with work. I introduced myself and he knew who I was," she smiled. "Which means he knew who you are, too, but didn't realize your relationship until his mother and I explained it."

Mike simply kept his focus on the bedspread; completely oblivious to the noises Nef and Dave were making downstairs as the lugged all the bags into the house and all around made normal 'moving about the house' noise.

"So, what do you want me to do? Meet her and see for myself? Reconcile, maybe?"

"Well, you kinda don't have a choice."

Looking up and quirking an eyebrow, Mike stared at his fiancee. "Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"'Cause I invited them over here tomorrow for New Years."

"What?"

"Don't get worked up," she ordered, holding a hand up to him. "You don't need any strain right now."

"No strain? No strain? What do you calling surprising me with the knowledge that you supposedly found my birth mother and invited her to our little soirée tomorrow?"

Clamoring off the bed and walking over to the window, Mike folded his arms across his chest and stared intently at the darkness outside as the occasional sound of vehicles passed on the street, many a foot away.

"Mike..." Caroline trailed as she crawled on the mattress and climbed off the bed to step behind him; placing her hands on his narrow waist and standing on tiptoe to rest her chin on his left shoulder. "I'm sorry. I just thought you'd want this chance---"

"You wanted to find your birth parents. Not me," he bit out. "I told you I'd made amends with that desire a long time ago. I don't need to know where I came from to know where I'm going, unlike you. I already know where I'm going." Turning his head slightly, Mike looked down at Caroline, who was 5'3" as compared to his 5'11" stature. "Wherever you go is where I'm going."

Smiling a little ruefully, Caroline pressed her lips to his neck and inhaled his scent. "You might have made amends, but how can you not want to meet your birth mother if you've been given the chance? Why not take it?"

"Because, for one, I don't even know if this random woman you met is the real deal."

"Mike," Caroline spoke in an almost chastising manner. "As soon as you lay eyes on her, you'll know." She then added, "You'll feel it in your heart."

Turning his face back to the window, the blue-eyed bassist reached for Caroline's hands and forced her arms to wrap around his waist as he closed his eyes and let out an unsteady breath.

"I'm not sure I'm ready."

Leaning the right side of her face against his left shoulder blade, Caroline hugged her man from behind as she spoke to him. "A great man once said that going right into something was like being tired and jumping on stage."

"Hey," came an utterance from his lips. "I said that."

"And you're a great man."

"No, I ain't."

"Yes, you are. Don't argue with me."

Mike couldn't help it so he smirked and tilted his head back and then turned to look at Caroline once more. "Ya think I can handle meeting my supposed birth mother."

"I not only think you can handle meeting your real birth mother, but I know it." Grinning, Caroline stood on tiptoe and nipped at his bottom lip before pulling back slightly to inspect his expression. "My man can handle anything," she cooed.

"If you two are fuckin', you sure are quiet!" came Nef's voice came from out in the hall.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut the fuck up and find yourself a buttplug, you faggot!"

Mike laughed and turned around this time, fully, causing Caroline to beam as she threw her arms around his neck and leaned her chest against his; looking up at him.

"There's that smile I love so much," she sighed.

"There's the woman who loves my smile so much," he retaliated.

"Mmm...dork."