Here Comes Goodbye

“My Chemical Romance?” Liz asked, turned to stare at him. “No way!”

“So you’ve heard of us?” he asked smirking.

“Hell yeah I’ve heard of you!” Liz said. “You’re only like my favorite band ever.”

“So you listen to us, but you didn’t know I was your father? Didn’t you even have a hint?” Gerard asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No,” Liz said. “Mom never told me a thing about you, not even your age.”

“I’m 46,” he said, chuckling. “I was probably about 29 or 30 when you were born.”

“I’m 13,” Bandit spoke up.

“Really?” Liz asked, shocked. “So that made Dad 32 when he had you right?” she looked up at him for confirmation.

“Right.” Gerard said. “So, now that we know what’s truly going on, we have a lot of figuring out to do right now.”

“Like what?” Bandit asked.

“Where Liz is sleeping for one thing.” Gerard said to his youngest daughter. “What we’re going to do about our Thanksgiving trip to Jersey.”

“I can go back to Chicago…” Liz started saying.

“No, you’re going to be going and meeting your family.” Gerard interrupted her. “We just have to inform them that your coming as well.”

“Are the Iero’s going this year?” Bandit asked. Gerard nodded.

“As far as I know of they were planning on it.” he replied.

“Iero?” Liz asked. “That’s Frank Iero from the band.”

“They live just down the street,” Gerard said, looking in the direction they had just walked from.

“Anthony is Frank and Jamia’s son,” Bandit informed her. Liz nodded, amazed.

“You know, we should just show up with her!” Bandit said suddenly, turning to face her father. He looked down at her with confusion on his face. “With Liz, we should just show up and surprise everyone.”

“Bandit, you can’t just spring something like that one someone.” Gerard said. “Sure it’ll work with friends, but not family. We have to tell Grandma and Grandpa Way and your Uncle and Aunt at least.”

“Okay,” she muttered, sounding disappointed.

“I could jump out of a cake,” Liz said, trying to lighten her mood. Gerard laughed while Bandit smiled, her eyes automatically lighting up. The front door opened and Lindsey walked out, holding her purse and car keys.

“I was going to go out shopping, anyone want to go?” she asked. Bandit automatically ran to the car.

“You go too,” Gerard told Liz. “Get to know each other better.”

“Come on,” Bandit called. “You come too Dad!”

“I’m going to go talk to Frank about something. You three go, have some female bonding time,” Gerard replied, rubbing Lindsey’s shoulder. He kissed her cheek and mused Liz’s hair. He waved at Bandit and started walking down the street to the Iero’s house.

“Let’s go,” Bandit called excitedly. Liz noticed that Lindsey didn’t look to thrilled to have her coming.

“You know, I’m pretty tired from the trip getting here. Maybe next time,” she said.

“Okay, you can go sleep in my room. The door has my name on it, so you can’t miss it.” Bandit said. “See you later.” She jumped into the car with her mother. Liz looked toward Lindsey, and saw the look of resentfulness in her eyes. She pulled out and drove away, leaving Liz alone in her father’s house. She walked into the house and shut the door. She noticed her suitcase was still by the door, so she picked it up and carried it upstairs to her half-sister’s room. The room was beautiful. It was decorated in black and purple. Her two favorite colors as well. The bed was huge and she had a nice view of the neighborhood from her window. Liz set her suitcase down against the wall, making sure it was completely out of the way. She looked around the room and sighed as tears began forming in her eyes. Was this what it would have been like for her if she grew up knowing her father? Would she have been at the family Thanksgiving dinners or get Christmas from everyone? Would she have had a bedroom this nice, and not just a single twin sized bed in the room they use as storage?

She didn’t know the answers, and she didn’t want to think of them. She never complained about her life. She knew that was what was dealt to her, so she had to work on making a better life for herself.
Sighing, Liz walked from the room. There was no way she would be able to sleep right now. She walked around the house, finding an office, then an entertainment room. She came up to a door and opened it, taking a peek inside. It was Gerard and Lindsey’s room. She quickly left that room, she didn’t want to be caught looking in their privacy. Liz walked down the stairs and into the living room, looking over family photos and their DVD collection. She smiled when she noticed they had all the Saw movies, and numerous other horror movies. She loved horror movies, much to her mother’s displeasure. She looked into the kitchen and was surprised by how small it looked. She looked out into the backyard, noting the pool and law chairs. There was a dry-erase board on the refrigerator. She wanted to go walking, but didn’t know if she should use the board. She quickly grabbed out her notebook and a pen from the messenger bag she carried as a purse. She quickly jotted down her cell phone number, telling Gerard that was her number and that she went exploring and that she wasn’t going to go to far and she’ll be back soon. She left it on the table in the entryway and checked that her phone was on. She left the house and made her way down the street, the same direction she went to the park at. She passed the Iero house and she could see Gerard in the window, talking and looking upset. She noticed the window was open, so she used her years of practice to sneak up to the window to hear what was being said. She had a feeling they were talking about her.

“I met her Dad,” she heard Tony’s voice said. “She’s really nice. Shy and confused maybe, but nice.”

“Of course she’s confused,” she heard a new voice said. She knew it was Frank‘s voice. “She goes 15 years without knowing who her father is, then one day bam, she’s told just like that and basically the next day she’s walking up to his front door.”

“I’m taking her to Jersey for Thanksgiving,” Gerard’s voice said. “I have no damn clue what her problem is, but if I ever talk to Eliza again, she’s going to have a lot of explaining to do. She has no idea how fucked up it made me thinking that I had a child coming and we lost it. I went 15 years beating myself up over it.”

“We know that Gee,” a female voice said kindly. It had to have been Tony’s mother, Jamia. “We know how tortured you were after she told you that, but look at the facts now. You have her with you, so you should make the most of this time. Get to know your daughter.”

“You’re right Jamia,” Gerard said, sighing. “I can’t blame Liz for something her mother did.”

“Where is she anyway?” Frank asked suddenly. “I’d love to meet her if she’s as nice as Tony claims she is.”

“She’s amazing,” Gerard said. Liz felt a flutter in her heart from those two simple words. “I think she went with Lindsey and Bandit to go shopping though.” She decided to quickly go back down to the sidewalk and act like she was looking for him.

“I’ll get it,” she heard Tony say after she knocked. He opened the door and smiled when he saw her. “Hey, it’s Liz!” he called to the adults. She followed him, noting Gerard was sitting on the couch beside a man shorted than him. He was probably about her height. He was the splitting image of Tony though. The female was very pretty with green eyes and dark hair.

“Hey, I thought you went with the girls,” Gerard said standing up. Liz shook her head.

“No, I was tired from the trip so I stayed to rest a little.” she said. What she didn’t add was that she had no rest at all.

“Okay, well since you’re here.” he said, wrapping his arms around her. She automatically stiffened and froze. He looked down at her confused.

“Sorry, I have a problem with getting touched by people I don’t trust,” she said, ducking from under him. “Or even people I do trust at that.”

“That’s sudden,” Gerard said, crossing his arms. “You just let me hug you back at the house.”

“Germophob?” Tony asked, smirking.

“N-no,” Liz replied, staring at the floor and picking her nails. “I’m sorry,” she said, still not looking at everyone.

“No, tell us.” Gerard said gently, reaching to grab her hand. He hesitated and dropped his own hand, nit to sure what to do.

“No, because it’ll just make you even more angry and I don’t want this to be the first impression I have here.”

“Liz, we don’t care about first impressions.” Frank said, standing up and walking to stand beside Gerard. “We know they’re misleading. Like someone would take you doing that as someone who’s a complete bitch,” Gerard snapped his head to face Frank. Frank just ignored the look. “but I can tell it’s something deeper than that by the fear I saw in your eyes.” he finished. Gerard relaxed and turned back to face Liz.

“What happened?” he asked again, even more gentle than the first time. “I just want to know. You let me hug you back at the house, but now you don’t like to be touched, what happened?”

“Mom’s had a lot of boyfriends when I was a kid,” Liz finally started explained. “Some were decent, but others, not so much. Drug addicts and male whores. Some were alcoholics, and they were violent when they were drunk.” Gerard’s face held understanding right away.

“You were abused,” he said. Liz nodded. “How bad?” he asked.

“Emotional, physical, psychological…” her voice trailed off before she could tell him the worst part, but the look in his eyes told everyone he could tell what it was.

“Give me your mother’s number.” he said, his voice so fierce Liz didn’t hesitate to hand him her phone. He looked through her contacts and found the contact labeled Mom. He pressed the send button and put the phone on speaker.

“Liz, I was wondering when you were going to call me. How’s things going?” Eliza’s voice answered the phone.

“Very, very well, Eliza.” Gerard said. “How nice of you to inform me that we had a daughter by the way.”

“G-Gerard?” Eliza stammered, shocked. “Where’s Liz?”

“None of your damn business.” Gerard snapped. “She’s been telling me about the shit you let happen Eliza, how the hell could you do that?”

“I have no idea what you mean. That girl is a pathological liar Gerard. I sent her to you to try to get you to straighten her out!”

“Bullshit!” Gerard shouted. “If anyone’s the liar here it’s you. How many boyfriends of yours beat my daughter Eliza? How many of them called her names? Belittled her to make her feel like she was worthless? How many of them sexually molested her?”

“None of them, I’m telling you Gerard. The girl creates stories. She’s a liar, I was close to losing my girl.”

“Eliza, you and I both know you’re the real liar here,” Gerard said, storming out of the house. The open window didn’t stop his voice, but everyone knew he wanted privacy. Liz turned to the Iero’s and opened her mouth.

“Don’t you dare apologize,” Tony said, walking up to her, but stopped just short of her. “Sorry, we’re a big group of huggers,” he said sheepishly. Liz nodded.

“Hugs I can take,” she said. “That’s why I let Dad, Gerard, hug me earlier.” Gerard walked back into the house, fuming and tossing her phone back to her.

“You’re mother calls, I want to talk to her,” he said, sitting back down on the couch. Liz sat down beside him while everyone else took their spots again.

“How far did they go with you?” Gerard asked suddenly, looking over at his daughter.

“Just touching,” she replied, tears welling in her eyes.

“Did you tell anyone?” Frank asked kindly.

“Just Mom, I thought she would believe me, but she didn’t. She just called me a liar and smacked me and sent me to my room.” Liz answered, not looking at anyone.

“Why didn’t you go to the police?” Tony asked me.

“Because there was no phone, I wasn’t able to use my cell phone unless I was at school, and mom put strict blocks on it, including 911. I was followed walking home to and from school. I was a prisoner.” She looked up and toward Gerard, who was staring into space. “I didn’t want to tell you, at least not just yet.”

“I’m glad you did,” he said. “Now I have ammunition to get you away from that bitch for good. I’m not going to stand back while my daughter gets beaten and molested in her own home.” Liz felt the tears pour down her face at her father’s words.

“Oh, she told me she does hugs,” Tony informed Gerard. Gerard looked over at Liz confused.

“There’s something soothing about hugs,” Liz replied innocently. Her father laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders in a side hug.

“So let’s get to work planning our return to Jersey,” Frank said.

“And we have Liz’s birthday coming up,” Gerard added.

“And Dad’s,” Tony replied.

“A lot to do, not enough time to do it in.” Jamia said sighing. “I’ll go get drinks.”

“I’ll help,” Liz offered.

“You know, I would like that. Thank you Liz.” Jamia said. Liz followed her into the kitchen where they grabbed sodas and a pack of crackers. They walked back into to find the men in a full out discussion of some sort of store.

“The MRB Music Store,” Jamia explained. “It’s run by your uncle and a couple of their friends, though Frank and Gerard are more than happy to offer their insights.” Liz nodded and listened. She knew she would like it here, and maybe she can finally get over the fears that’s plagued her for so long. Only time could tell.