We'll Fly Home, You And I

I walked cautiously behind Gerard, the rest of the guys in front of us.

"Maybe I should stay in the bus."

"What? No, you'll be fine. Besides, our manager is going to come by in a little bit and take it away." I had a feeling Gerard was more confident than I was.

Mikey knocked on the front door to the small home. The sound of feet running across carpet was heard, and a young woman burst through the door and attacked Mikey.

"Oh God, I missed you so much!! You forgot to call me!! How the hell did you forget to call me!?! I sho-" He shut her up by placing his lips onto hers. Once their mini make out session stopped, he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I missed you too," he whispered. It was then that I noticed that this was the same woman that he had shown me on his phone. Alicia.

"Is Jamia here?" Frank asked hopefully.

"FRANK!!!" A shorter woman ran from the front door and tackled Frank to the ground. They were both laughing and holding each other, almost rolling into the sidewalk.

"Those two have been waiting over here since four o' clock this morning waiting for you." A woman with bleach blonde hair and an aged face came forward and hugged Mikey.

"It's good to be back in Jersey," he said.

"Amen to that!" Frank shouted. He and Jamia walked back up to the door and went into the house. I was still hiding behind Gerard, who had a firm grip around my shoulder with his left arm, hugging me against his body. The rest of them filed into the home and soon it was Gerard, his mom, and me.

"Oh, Gerard, who is this?" she asked looking down at me. I smiled slightly, but remained glued to Gerard.

"Mom, this is Hannah. We kind of took her in. She's going to be staying with us."

"Hannah," she smiled to herself, then went forward to hug me, "You're welcome here anytime." I wrapped my arms around her. I really wished that I could have a grandmother like her. Or a grandmother at all. "Come in, come in. I've got lunch already made." I went into the house and did a small three sixty. It was so homey and warm. Well, anything was warmer than outside. The walls were covered in pictures of Mikey and Gerard, posters for their band, what looked like an old movie star, and an Italian wedding.

"Who's this?" I turned to see that Alicia and Jamia were staring at me from the living room. Frank jumped up next to me and picked me up,

"This is Hannah, and we're babysitting her for the rest of her life." I giggled. It was actually pretty true.

"She's from Chicago," Bob added from the kitchen.

"Oh, are you related to Bob?" I suddenly felt out of place. Frank put me down and I ran over to Gerard who was walking into the room at the time.

"I don't want to be here," I told him. He bent down onto one knee and my arms went around him, my head in the crook of his neck. My age seemed to have changed to that of a child's.

::Gerard's POV::

"It's alright. Go on into the kitchen with Bob and Ray and get something to eat," I told her.

"Will you tell them for me?" she asked. She was seemed so innocent, I didn't know if they would believe me or not.

"I will. Now go get some food. I know you're hungry." She smiled and hugged me and left the living room.

"Gerard, did you have a kid while you were gone?" Alicia asked. I laughed.

"She was a homeless girl we found at a bar in Chicago. . ." and I told them the entire story. Mikey and Frank held onto both of them, paying as much attention as Mom, Jamia, and Alicia, as if this was the first time they had heard it themselves. When I finished, all of us glanced into the kitchen to see Bob and Hannah making a tower of sliced tomatoes on top of each other.

"So, you just. . . took her? Isn't that illegal?" Alicia asked. Mikey answered her,

"Technically no. She has no family, birth records, guardians, anything. And she's," he looked over at me and smiled, "grown on us. We couldn't just leave her there."

"Are you sure she'll like living in a bus with five men?" Mom asked.

"We don't always live in a bus," I said. "And she told us on the way here that anything was better than sleeping in trees. We love her. And she's an amazing girl."

"But what about your fans? What will they think of you having a teenage girl with you all the time?" Jamia asked.

"They don't have to know about her. We can hide Hannah from them. And when they do find out, we'll just tell them. It's not like it's a big deal."

"Gerard, you can't just keep her. You have to-" I cut her off.

"I know, Mom."

::Hannah's POV::

"How many tomatoes is that?" I asked Bob. He began to count our tower.

"Thirty-nine." I inspected it again.

"One more," I said. Carefully, I picked up another slice and placed it on top. "Perfect," I whispered.

"It doesn't really seem like it would be a fruit" Bob said.

"It's a vegetable."

"Fruit," Bob said defensivly.

"How can it be a fruit? It's not sweet."

"Ya, but it comes from a flowering plant."

"That doesn't make any sense!" I told him.

"The tomato is the state vegetable of New Jersey," Ray butted in, making him sound like a nerd.

"See! State VEGETABLE!! Not fruit!"

"Ya, but in Arkansas it's the state vegetable AND fruit!" I stared at him for a moment.

"How the hell do you know that?" He sank down into his chair slightly.

"I was the tomato in a school pageant when I was little." Ray and I glanced at each other, then burst out laughing. Bob? In a pageant? Oh my god, that has to be the funniest thing I've ever heard!

"Hannah?" Gerard called from the living room. I tried to compress my giggles and walked to the door way.

"Hmm? What?" I asked. He motioned for me to come sit on his lap.

"Alicia and Jamia have agreed to take you shopping this afternoon to get you some clothes and other things." My eyes lit up and I looked over to the two girls next to Mikey and Frank. They were both smiling back at me. I was too nervous to go over and hug them, so I hugged Gerard instead.

"Thank you for all of this," I whispered to him. His hand rubbed up and down my back.

"You're worth it," he told me.

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