My Way Home Is Through You

Ray awoke two hours later to the sound of intense pounding on his door. As he swam groggily towards consciousness, he heard Frank's voice calling from the hallway.

"Ray! Dude! Are you okay?"

"Ray, come on, man! Open the door!" Gerard's voice joined in, sounding panicky.

Ray sat up quickly, glancing about the room. Anna was sitting up in her bed, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Another pound on the door startled her and she shrieked.

Unfortunately, this only increased the fervor of the pair outside.

"Goddammit, Ray, OPEN THE DOOR!"

Ray scrambled off the bed and yanked the door open, greeting his friends' frantic faces with tousled hair and bleary eyes.

"Are you all right? Why didn't you answer?" Gerard asked hurriedly.

"Why did Anna scream?" Frank demanded.

"Y-y-y-yeah, we're fine," Ray stuttered through a yawn. "We were asleep. The noise scared her. Come on in, guys." He moved to admit his bandmates into the room.

After closing the door, Ray immediately went to Anna's bedside, where the little girl still seemed to be trying to wake up.

"Daddy?" she whimpered, sounding confused.

"It's okay, baby, it's just Frankie and Gee." Her face lit up as she turned towards the two men.

"Frankie!" she squealed happily. "G'rard!" Ray chuckled. She still seemed to be having trouble pronouncing the singer's name.

"Hey, sugar," said Gerard, smiling at the child. Frank merely grinned and waved.

"What time is it?" Ray asked, rubbing his own eyes.

"Four-thirty, man, we were coming to see if you were ready yet," Frank said. "Brian said he'll be up in a few to watch Anna."

"No, she's coming with us," Ray said. "I'm not leaving her here." He gave his daughter a gentle smile, which she returned brightly.

Gerard's eyebrows shot upward and he pulled Ray aside. "Is that a good idea? It gets pretty loud and rowdy backstage, you know that. Besides, most of the crew doesn't even know about Anna yet. What are they going to say when we bring a little girl in with us?"

"We're going to have to tell them eventually," Ray said. "They may as well hear it now. Besides," he continued as Frank drew near, "I don't want to leave her. She..." He swallowed hard. "She remembers that Jenna never came back when she left the last time."

Gerard closed his eyes and covered his mouth. He couldn't imagine what his friend was going through. Frank just sighed and shook his head.

"It makes it tough, man, I know."

"So," Gerard began. "Then are the both of you going to be ready to go soon? We need to get there in the next twenty minutes."

"Sure," Ray said as he watched Anna climb off the bed and toddle to the window. "Just give me a minute to grab some jammies for her to change into later on."

"Okay, we'll meet you downstairs," Gerard said as he and Frank went back towards the door. "And I'll grab the action figures for her to play with, too." And with a wave goodbye to Anna, they left.

"Okay, kiddo," Ray said, rummaging through the suitcases again. "You ready to go see us play some really loud music?"

Her face split into a giant grin as she nodded and exclaimed, "Yeah!"

"All right!" Ray grabbed a lightweight set of pajamas that consisted of shorts and a t-shirt. He knew just how hot it would get backstage, and he didn't want Anna to be miserable.

Then he took her hand and led her out the door, thinking that this would definitely be a night to remember.