Did We All Fall Down, Well After All

::Hannah’s POV::
::Hospital Waiting Room::

“My stomach hurts,” I complained.

“You’re just nervous. Do you want me to get you some water?” Jamia asked. She had arrived ten minutes ago. Grandma said that she was going to be living with us. And I was grateful. The more comfort the better.

“No, then I’ll have to pee.” My eyes widened. “What if I pee the baby out?!” Jamia and Donna laughed, but I didn’t find anything funny about it.

“Hannah, please settle down. You’ll be fine,” Grandma said. I sank down further into my chair, leaning over so that I could reach the leaves of the plastic tree on my right.

“I’m hungry.”

“You just ate two orders of pancakes with sausage from McDonalds,” Jamia insisted.

“I’m bored.” I turned my head to find the two women looking over at me, a smirk playing both of their lips. “Can Bert stay with us for a little bi—“

“No!” they both shouted at the same time.

“Alright, geez. No men. I get it. Can he at least come visit?”

“Hannah Way?” A nurse calls from the open door. The subject is instantly dropped once more as we follow the plump woman into the carpeted hallways. This wasn’t the actual sick person part of the hospital. It was the clinic next to it. “You’ll be in this room. Dr. Andings will be with you shortly. She closed the door and left us alone. The room was fairly small, with four chairs, a small counter, and an examination table. My hand started to rub my small bump. The only reason it was visibly was because I was already so damn skinny to begin with. But everything was getting bigger now, which was good. I’m glad I’m not a stick anymore. I have meat on my bones. Meat.

“I’m hungry. Do you think they can get me some hospital food?” Jamia placed her hand firmly on my shoulder.

“This will be over soon and we’ll all go out to eat at some place nice. Does that sound good?” I nodded. My thoughts went back to Bert. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I missed him like hell. And Dad. I missed Dad and Uncle Mikey and Frank and Bob and Ray and, dare I say, Brian. But most of all, I missed Bert.

::Bert’s POV::

My fingers tapped the kitchen counter sporadically out of nervous habit as I stared at the notebook in front of me. Quinn was fighting with Jeph over how the coffee maker wasn’t working while Dan sat across from me drinking the last bit that he had left.

“Did you put the water in?” Jeph asked calmly.

“Yes, and the fuckin’ filter thing and the beans. . .” He opened up where the filter was. Jeph started to laugh uncontrollably.

“You’re supposed to put the beans in the grinder, not the filter you dipshit.” Dan laughed, spitting his coffee back into the mug. I wrote down a few more lines and threw my hands up into the air.

“Done!” I shouted triumphantly.

“With what?” Quinn asked.

“A song I wrote for Gerard.”

“Awwww, let me see! Let me see!!” Jeph squealed, running around the counter.

“Not that kind of song. But it’s pretty fucking awesome. I want to record it as soon as possible and send them a little copy.” Jeph leaned over my shoulder and started to read the words aloud.

“Your dream vacation, smile hostage refuge. A work in progress, you bleed just like you puke while runnin’ a mile. I beg to differ. Make me an offer. Warm summer rain, you bleed just like you puke while runnin’ a mile. Sounds wicked. Do you have a melody yet?”

“I’ve got everything. This song is going to be the shit.”

“Are we going to go back and see Gerard again?” Dan asked. A smirk slowly made its way up onto my face as I thought of the possibilities.

“Maybe”

::Gerard’s POV::

Mikey was still screaming. Ray had left when Frank had offered to take over. I asked if I could help, but how could I if I was the source of the problem. Ray was in his bunk listening to his iPod, while Bob was in the back with Frank assisting whatever way he could. They didn’t want to talk to me. No one did. I didn’t blame them. I pulled out the flask from my back pocket and took a quick swig of the liquid.

“I’m so fucked,” I mumbled to myself. It felt like nothing mattered anymore. As I awaited the relief from the alcohol to come, my phone started ringing. I answered without looking at the Caller ID. “Hello?” my voice was low.

“Is Mikey okay?” Alicia. Oh God, she probably hates me. I leaned over my seat to look at the door to the back. It was quieter now.

“I think he’s settling down. Do you want to talk to him?”

“No. Not right now. I’ll call him later. I really don’t think he should be staying with you if this is what its doing to him.”

“What?! No, he has to stay with us!” I protested. Ray’s head popped out of his bunk.

“Gerard, listen to me. I can’t bear to have Mikey go back to the way he was. Do you want that to happen to him? He can’t be like that again.”

“No. No, Mikey has to stay!” Ray came up towards me, a worried look on his face. “I need him here with me.”

“The more he stays there with you while you have this problem, I am more than likely going to have to send him back to his psychiatrist.”

“I don’t have a goddamn problem, alright?!” Ray grunted and took the phone from my hand roughly. “No!” I reached for it, but he held it above his head out of my reach. My hands grab locks of his hair in an attempt to pull his head down so I could get it back. His knee rammed up into my gut, causing me to stumble backwards. His large hands grabbed my shoulders and pushed me down onto the ground.

“Whatever help you have, we could definitely use it,” he spoke into the phone. I leaned my head against the wall and reached down for my flask to get rid of the pain. But, before I could even get the liquid to my deprived lips, he had yanked it out of my hand as well.

“Bastard. Give that back to me!!” But before I could physically attack him, he had thrown it out of an open window. My jaw dropped. Anger started searing deep inside of me causing me to lash out at him once more. My arms wrapped around his center, trying to tackle him down to the ground. Instead, he lifted me off of him and took me to the ground. I grabbed upwards at his face, my nails lightly scratching his cheeks. My body struggled to get out from underneath him, but he held me down. As his hands reached for my wrists to hold me down even more, I lifted my neck upwards and my teeth clamped onto his forearm.

“Aaaahhh!!!” he screamed before quickly taking the back of his hand to my cheek. I let go. The metallic taste of the red liquid I had grown so used to slid into my mouth. My body started to rock violently as I was suddenly sitting up hitting at Ray’s shoulders and chest. “Bob!!” he called out for help. In almost a second, I was being lifted up and instantly shoved back down onto the ground onto my stomach. Bob held my hands behind my back. I lifted my head up and locked eyes with Mikey. He was sitting in the back lounge with Frank holding his side. Our eyes stuck to each others broken pair. His were red and puffy, his lip still quivering.

“Mikey. . .” I whispered. I was killing him. My actions were slowly breaking him apart, one small piece at a time. Maybe Alicia was right. Perhaps he can’t stay here. But how could I bear to watch another part of my family forced to be taken away from me. I remained silent as Mikey shakily stood up and made his way over to me, kneeling in front of my head. Bob gradually let go of me and I immediately wrapped my arms around my little brother. His back started to spasm up and down as I muffled his inevitable cries into my shoulder.

“Gee, please. You can stop this.” He looked up at me, terror and misery evident on his features. I looked back at Frank. He had an almost pleading look upon his face as well. I shook my head. It was impossible now. Even if this was only the beginning, there was no way I could stop once this begun.

“I’m sorry. . . .,” I whispered, “. . I can’t.”