We'll Fly Home, You And I

::Gerard's POV::

I was sitting in Mikey's bunk staring at the wall. Sleep was not coming to me. It was probably four thirty in the morning. I don't know how I could even think about sleep with what Hannah's been having to deal with. I don't know how her mind could even think of me doing all of that to her. But Frank was right. I'm her dad now, and it's my job to help her.

I carefully got out of bed and went to go make some coffee.

::Three hours later::

Ray walked into the lounge area, poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down next to me.

"Bob texted me this morning. The doctors say that he has to stay there three more days, then we can fly him out to where ever we are." I nodded.

"Good." I looked down at my coffee and began to swirl it around in its cup.

"You know, Hannah's awake if you want to talk to her. She's a lot calmer than she was last night."

"I don't want to go back there while she's still in Frank's bunk. I'll just wait until she comes out here." A loud thump was heard from back in the hallway. A sleepy Mikey walked in.

"Not used to sleeping on the bottom bunk," he explained. "Did either of you check on Hannah?"

"Ray did."

"She's awake."

"Then why aren't you talking to her?" he asked, sounding irritated. He went back into the hall of bunks and pulled back the curtain to the one she was in. "Hannah?" She turned over to look at him.

"Hmm?"

"Come on. We need to get things figured out."

"I don't want to go out there," she said.

"I'm sorry, but you have to. It's for the best." She looked up at him to see if he was lying to her. Reluctantly, she agreed and walked into the front half of the bus. Ray decided for himself that he should leave and went into the back room. She sat opposite me with Mikey, keeping her gaze on her feet.

"Hannah," I said. She looked up. Her eyes were empty. Her face was pale, hair matted and greasy. "They're just dreams. I'm not like that. You know that right?" She nodded.

"It's just. . . remember when I said I had dreams like this when I was little? The ones that feel real? Well, it was also the exact same dream, only it was the man that lived in the apartment next to ours. He had told me that everything I put up with Mason wasn't fair for a child of my age. He told me how he had this job and he was going to get a promotion soon, then he would take me away from Mason so I could live with him. But it turned out that he was friends with Mason and was going to torture me by making me believe that no one could ever love me. He tricked me, and my nightmares came true. That's why I'm like this. I don't want it to happen again."

"But I do love you. That's why you're my daughter. That's why you're here. We care about you Hannah, and we want to take care of you," I told her. She leaned over onto Mikey and a spark of jealousy fired up inside of me.

"That life is over. This is your new one. Forget all of the things that have happened to you and think about all the good that will come in the future." Hannah looked over at my face. She got up from the couch and walked over so that she was standing straight in front of me.

"Do you promise that you'll protect of me?" she asked.

"With all my heart." A small smile appeared on her lips and she sat down next to me and hugged my neck.

"Will you protect me from my nightmares?"

"I did it with Mikey, I'm positive I can do it with you." Frank, who was about to walk in, stopped. His eyes grew wider and wider, his jaw dropped along with the magazine he was holding.

"INCEST!!! INCEST!! INCEST!!!" He yelled running to the back of the bus, most likely to retrieve Ray.

"Hold on Frank. I'm on the phone!" we heard Ray tell him.

"But Ray-"

"Out!" Frank was shoved from the back room. Slowly, he made his way back to us, a disgusted look placed upon his face.

"He was talking about dealing with nightmares Frank," Mikey said. He stopped.

"Oh. Right. Duh, what did you think I meant?" he said nervously.

"You were shouting 'Incest'," I said.

"N-no I wasn't. I was shouting 'invest'. The stock went up. And I've never had stock before. I think it'd be fun."

"Frank, do you even know what stock is?" Mikey asked.

"Of course I do! It's money." We rolled our eyes at him and he sat down next to Mikey and started eating Cheerios out of the box. "So, what's new?"

"I'm not yelling at Dad," Hannah said. She was calling me Dad again. Yes!

"Well that's good."

"Bob can come back in three days," I said.

"What!?" they said excitedly.

"Ya, and I'm guessing Ray's on the phone with him." Hannah got up from beside me and I could hear her burst into the back room.

"LET ME TALK TO HIM!!" she ordered.

"Wow, fine. Here."

"BOB! Oh, I miss you so much! How's your leg?" The rest of the conversation was unheard by us.

"I'm guessing she's back to normal," Frank said.

"She sure does relapse fast. It took me forever."

"Well Mikey, you're a guy. Maybe girls are different."

"I don't know Gerard, I think girls and guys are the same," Mikey joked.

"Pfft. Ya right. Imagine Gerard having a time of the month. That would be fucking hell." I started to laugh, then stopped.

"Oh shit. We're going to have to live with a hormonal teenage girl for a week every month?"

"I thought she had birth control."

"Had. She used it all up."

"Fuck no."