Just Don't Take Chances

*Frank's POV;

August 1st

I scratched my head as I approached the bus. According to Brian, Alliyson left right when the show ended and said she was going on the bus because she wasn't feeling well and needed some rest.

Today we were in Phoenix, Arizona and unfortunately we weren't staying long. Although this is Chester Bennington's hometown, we did have a fifteen hour drive ahead of us to Texas. So I was trying to get as much time in with the fans here but at the same time...

I was worried about her.
Her immune system isn't all that strong, as neither is mine. So when she gets sick, it's something really serious and she needs extra care and tons of medicine and rest. It makes me kinda feel bad for her, y'know? Imagine having to live your life with the fear of being sick in the back of your head? But at the same time, she's just got to live her life to the fullest.

I unlocked the tour bus door and climbed up the stairs, hearing the door click closed as the bus's air conditioning made me shiver suddenly and I headed towards the bunk area. As soon as I walked through the doorway I heard a soft sniffle and whimpering that sounded a lot like my girlfriend.

"Alliyson?," I asked softly, pulling back the curtain to reveal her in the bed. She had the covers pulled up to her chin and she was shaking in between each sniffle, her brow wet with perspiration. I slowly sat beside her and set my hand on her back.

"Babe you alright?," I said and she shook her head. I rubbed my fingers along her back and she started to stop shaking so furiously, her body relaxing. "What's wrong?"

"E-e-everything," she stuttered almost inaudibly. "Everything hurts."

"Mm," I said, continuing to rub her back. "You want me to get you something, anything at all?"

"N-no Frank!," Alliyson exclaimed. "G-go back to your signing, I'll be fine."

"Nonsense," I told her, grinning and I leaned down so I wouldn't smash my head against the ceiling of the bunk, leaving the bunk area and walked into the kitchen.

I heard Alliyson sneeze so that was almost like a hint for me to search for her allergy medicine, which I found and a bottle of water and set that down. Then I took a coffee cup and filled it with water and stuffed it into the microwave, finding a bag of Red Zinger tea and some sugar packets before I went back to fetch Alliyson.

When I got back to the bunk she had turned onto her other side so her back was facing me, no longer shaking but I could still hear her sniffling. She had lowered the sheets to her stomach so I slowly pulled them down and slid my arms under her body and lifted her out of the bed.

"Frank!," she shrieked, her voice hoarse and weak. "Put me back!"

"Shh," I said as I kissed the side of her head, carrying her into the front kitchen. "I'm making you tea."

"Frank stop, you're such a stubborn fuck," Alliyson continued to plea and I set her down carefully on the couch, putting my palm to her forehead to check her temperature. "Why couldn't you just leave me in bed and go back to work?"

"Because I care too much," I said simply,walking back to the front of the microwave as it counted down its final numbers and beeped loudly, causing me to pop it open and take out the steaming cup. Then I dropped the teabag into it and picked up the allergy medicine and bottle of water and turned around to hand it to Alliyson.

I shook it in front of her face casually and she gave me a dull smile, taking it from me and I watched her take two pills, both cut in half with one side a bright yellow and the other a dull green. She then swallowed some water before capping the bottle and handed it back to me. I patted her on the head and returned it to the fridge after writing her name on it.

"You're too good to me," she sighed and grabbed the cup of tea, the sugar, and a spoon and put it on the table, and I lifted her up again and sat in her spot, gesturing that she sit in my lap.

"You know, you're really light...and really skinny. You weight practically nothing," I pointed out. "But don't get all defense, you know? Like other girls who go into 'I'm not - I'm fat!' mode cause you know damn well you're not fat..."

"Did I ever tell you why I'm so tiny?," Alliyson asked quietly, reaching for the tea cup, steam raising from it and shook around the tea bag before she took it out and poured the sugar in. I shook my head.

"Well I told you about my cancer, right?," she began and I nodded solemnly, adding, "Yeah."

Alliyson cleared her throat before she blew on the hot liquid and sniffed once more, "Yeah well uh, when I was...you know, getting treatment? I was like...physically sick. I wouldn't eat, and anything I did eat, I threw it right back up. Like I ate, but like chemotherapy makes you physically sick. I just couldn't stomach food...So all I ate for a year and half was ice cubes. And I also have a really fast metabolism."

"I see," I muttered, snuggling into her as I held the cup for her and she began to take small spoonfuls, blowing on them each time.

"You should know by now," Alliyson said in between another spoonful. "That I'm not like other girls."

"I know," I shrugged. "I usually have an answer about everything about you, it was just this one thing I didn't know."

"Mm," she mumbled as she began to slurp down the warm liquid and I could feel the heat radiating off of her once cold, shivering body and before I knew it, she was finished.

"Frank?," she asked softly, turning around so she could face me and tapped her nose against mine and sniffed, her nose turning up like a little bunny and I giggled.

We all know I don't fucking giggle.

"I love you."

"I love you too," I whispered and she pecked my cheek.

"Only you would leave a signing to check on me and then sit here and take care of me...," Alliyson said and then yawned, almost like a cow and I covered her mouth for her as her eyelids drooped.

"I think it's time for the big baby's nappy nap," I said in a fake school teachers voice and I picked her up again as she clung to my neck and I carried her back to the bunk, setting her down inside and I crawled in after.

Alliyson sighed happily as I cuddled into her, resting my head in between her shoulder and her chest and locked my arm hands behind her back, beginning to nibble affectionately on her flesh. She began to play with my hair, twirling it between her fingers and kissed me on the side of my head.

My eyes started to drift closed and soon we were both fast asleep.

Time Elapse.

There was a loud bang and then a lurch and my eyes shot open in response.
First thing I saw? Alliyson beside me, face buried into the pillow and a nice pool of drool seeping out of her mouth.

Yeah, I know. Nice sight to wake up to. At least I'm not that poor pillow.

I groaned loudly and threw open the curtains, closing them behind me before I ventured into the front of the bus, feeling it move beneath my feet. When I got into the kitchen/dining room thing, Worm was just walking to the driver's part of the bus, and Brian, Gerard, and Bob sat in on the couch watching television.

"Guys," I mumbled. "What time is it?"

"About 11:30 or so," Gerard answered, tearing his eyes away from the screen to glance at me.

"Shit...," I groaned. "I wasn't supposed to fall asleep, I was just supposed to get Alliyson to bed..."

"How is she, by the way?," Brian asked. "She wasn't looking too hot after the show."

"I think it's just a stomachache and some allergies," I shrugged, sitting next to him. "She just needed a little rest."

"I guess she's not used to touring?," Bob offered but I shook my head.

"No it's not that..."

"Maybe she's preggers," Gerard joked and I punched him.

"Shut up, Alliyson's not pregnant. I'm pretty sure she'd know if she was pregnant I mean...it is her body, after all."

"You know you guys," a voice said loudly. "This is a great conversation you guys are having about me and all but I think it needs to stop."

And then Alliyson appeared, in all her glory still dressed in the tank top and shorts I sent her to bed in only...her mouth was drool-less and she was smiling. She came and sat on my lap, putting her legs up on Brian's.

"Well hello there sunshine," Brian grinned. "Have a nice nap?"

"Depends, what time is it?"

"Like 11:30."

"What!?," she shrieked suddenly, jumping off my lap. "Shit shit shit shit shit..."

"Al? You all right?," Gerard asked, concern lacing his voice and I just stared at her.

"Fine," she snapped and grabbed my hand, hauling me off the couch and pulled me back to the bunks, muttering about sleeping too late and medicine and water and...drugs?

"Babe what's wrong?," I said but she ignored me and dove into our bunk, her legs flailing around. And who decided to come down the hall at that exact moment? None other than Ray Toro.

"Uh...I'm not even gonna ask," he said, hopping over her legs and pushed past me.

I chuckled as Alliyson resurfaced, her phone in hand and started to walk towards the back of the bus.

"Um, Alliyson? Is there something I'm missing here?," I questioned, following her and she walked through the real living room and into the sound proof-like recording room.

Yeah, in the back of the bus we have this tiny room that is like an office almost. It is soundproof, and you can record and work on music and everything. Theres a laptop back there, along with two guitars, a microphone, some headphones, a tiny drum set thing for Bob, and some other recording stuff I wasn't familiar with.

I walked in after her and she motioned for me to close the door, which I did and I heard the light ping outside, letting anyone who walked towards it know that someone was in there and the sound proof stuff was on. Alliyson plopped down on the tiny couch stationed on the wall and I sat next to her, watching her hands shake.

"Alliyson...? Are you all right? And what are we doing?," I asked again and she turned to me slowly, sighing.

"We have to call my mother," she said solemnly and I raised my eye brows.

"Why?"

"It's her birthday and I was supposed to call before but I was sick and I forgot and I told myself, 'Alliyson, make sure to call Mom today because she'll flip if you don't' and I ended up sick and drugging myself into sleep. God dammit, she's probably asleep by now, the old bat..."

"Just call her now and explain," I shrugged, leaning back into the chair and casually draped my arm on the back of hers. She took a deep breath and searched through the phone book for the number before she held the phone up to her ear.

"Ma? Hi...it's Alliyson. No I'm fine...I just wanted to call and say Happy Birthday and sorry for calling so late, it's only 11 here and..."

Then she took a deep breath and put the phone on speaker.

"It's fine, thank you. I wasn't expecting you to call or anything...Where are you?," a voice said with a slight Jamaican accent. I smirked at Alliyson but she kept the tight lipped frown on her face.

"No problem. Uh...I'm in...where am I?," she said softly and I mouthed 'Arizona'. "Arizona."

"Oh okay, that's good. Was that John, how is he?"

"No ma," Alliyson continued. "I'm uh...I'm not with John anymore. I left him a couple months ago. It's a long story..I'm in Arizona with Frank."

"I bet it is a long story. What did you do, why did you and John break up? And who the hell is Frank?"

"Frank is...Frank is my new boyfriend."

Her mom took a deep breath and sighed, "You're cheating...cheated on John with Frank? Because I've never heard of this 'Frank' person..."

"What? No Mommy..it's really complicated. I'll explain another time."

"To be honest, I don't want to hear it. You're unbelievable Alliyson..."

"What? What do you mean?"

Uh-oh. I closed my eyes and my head lolled to the side. I felt Alliyson's eyes on me but I kept mine closed.

"What do I mean? What do I mean? I don't understand how you could get rid of John like that, after everything you've been through and all of a sudden he's what, nothing? You were great with John, you were his everything and then you...then you get rid of him for this 'Frank'?"

I peaked my eyes open to look at Alliyson's reaction. Was she going to let her mother talk to her this way? Alliyson noticeably rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, running her fingers through her bangs but they ended up in her face anyway.

"This random guys is probably using you, John would never use you," she continued, her accent giving me a headache. "How can you trust this Frank guy, how long have you known him? You can't just trust random guys Alliyson, the world doesn't work that way. Did he tell you those pretty little words that you love so much? He probably said it to get you into his bed, god you were probably sleeping with him right now you little..."

"No ma! No I'm not sleeping with him right now...how is that any of your business?!"

"It is my business, as long as I'm your mother."

"No mother, I'm pretty sure it's not...."

Alliyson's mother continued to yell and she turned to look at me, giving me an incredulous look as if she couldn't believe the things coming out of her phone, the shrilly voice. Instead I just shrugged my shoulders in response and looked down.

I didn't like what her mother was saying to her at all. How was her mother just going to judge me like that? She didn't even know me, all she knew was my name. She didn't know what I did for a living, who I was and where I came from, what I'm even like. And what the hell was up with her defending John so much? Does she even know John like Alliyson and I do? Sure, he's a cool guy, whatever. But he probably put on the good boy show for Alliyson's mom.

"But what should I expect from you? I expect the best, I expect you to settle down with a well grounded man and I think John was that for you. And what do you do? You go and mess it up! That's all you ever do, Alliyson! Is mess shit up when it just starts getting good. You're impossible sometimes..."

"Excuse me? Oh that's rich, especially coming from you. And yeah, I did just say that."

"You make me sick! I'm literally sick to my stomach....I can't even stand to call you my daughter anymore. What are you even doing with your life anymore? You're just throwing it away chasing after men who are just gonna throw you away anyway."

"Yeah, whatever mom, I don't even care. I'm freaking 25 years old, I can go and do whatever I please and I damn well don't need your approval for it."

Alliyson turned away from me and bit down on her lip, tapping her foot against the floor angrily. Oh no, that's her I'm going to burst out crying because I'm upset and pissed off face.

I mean I could totally understand. What the hell is up with her mother? She calls to wish her a happy birthday because she feels bad because she was sick and took medicine and fell asleep and her mother treats her this way? Yelling at her because she broke up with John, basically calling her worthless and saying that I'm no good for her?

It just didn't make sense.

"Twenty five years old or not, you need to learn to grow up. Do you want to end up like Stephanie? Or like my sister? Or even like me? I didn't think so. Theres so many people in our family who's direction you are heading in and it's not a good one. Don't end up like them Alliyson, you're much better than that."

"Sure ma, whatever you say," Alliyson sniffed, wiping away at her face. I watched her lip tremble as she struggled to regain her posture and continue the conversation, "I don't understand how you can say any of this shit to your own daughter but then again, you didn't want me anyway and you obviously don't even want to call me your daughter anymore. I just...don't understand you. You just continue to push my buttons, like I'm not even your flesh and blood."

"No Alliyson, you listen to me...," her mom cut in.

"No mother, I'm done listening to you. You've gone way too far this time, you always go too far and this time I'm not going to sit here and listen to you and your worthless banter about how crappy of a person I am and how shitty my life is. And I'm not going to let you talk about Frank that way, you don't even know him and now I don't even think I want you to meet him," she cried, the tears sliding down her face but she ignored them. I took a shaky hand up to her face and wiped them away. She changed at me and turned away again.

"You know I say these things for your own benefit...," her mother muttered, she now noting she had hurt Alliyson's feelings.

"Yeah, my own benefit, sure. Whatever. Frank's been nothing but great to me, taking care of me and making sure things with me are going okay. And it's not like I'm even with Frank alone, I'm with Gerard too, but that's not the point," and her eyes slipped shut as she kept her head the other way. "Do me a favor and relay a message over to daddy? Tell him I said hi. Well bye mommy, as pleasant as this has been I'm going to bed now. Oh and happy freaking birthday."

I heard the music the Sidekick makes when you end a call before Alliyson chucked it across the couch and leaned back, her eyes snapping open as she began to sob. She put her hand up to her mouth as she cried and hugged her stomach with the other hand, her face scrunching up into a face of utter pain and discomfort.

"Alliyson...," I whispered quietly, wiping away her tears yet again but she swatted away at my hand.

"Don't," she snapped. "Don't tell me how much of a bitch she is and how fucked up her and my relationship is because I don't even want to hear it."

"I wasn't going to say any of that..," I said softly, pulling her onto my lap and into my arms as she dug her face into my shoulders and her own started to wrack with sobs and my heart snapped in two.

There's so much you can say that can break her.
And that was enough.

(A/N; well...that was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to write. you have no idea, i was tearing up the entire time. and it's not because of the context itself, but because those are things my mother says to me - has said - and probably would say. it's not good to think about it sometimes, but i needed it for the sake of the story. i know what you're going to say, wtf is up with her and tbh, i don't even know....)