Here Comes Goodbye

The next day was Thanksgiving, so that meant it was time for Liz to meet her grandparents. She was nervous, of course, but her father kept trying to reassure her that they would love her.

Standing outside their front door, she took a deep breath as she stood behind Gerard, who knocked on his parents’ door. The door opened and there was shouts and cries of the people inside.

“Gerard, Lindsey, Bandit,” a female voice said. “It’s so good to see you three.” I watched as Gerard got hugged rather tightly. The three of them was ushered inside, but before Liz could walk in, the door was shut.

“Mom, this is…where is she?” Gerard’s voice said. He opened the door to see a very confused looking Liz on the front step. “Sorry, she probably forgot.” he muttered, grabbing her hand.

“Who is she?” Donna asked her son, looking at the teenager he dragged in.

“Mom, Dad, this is Liz, my daughter.” Gerard announced to them.

“She’s grown,” Donald replied, reaching for Lynn’s hand. She flinched back, but she could see by the look in his eyes he wouldn’t hurt her. She let him grab her hand and spin her around.

“She’s sixteen Dad,” Mikey’s voice said from further in the room.

“Can’t believe it,” Donald muttered, looking her up and down more.

“I’m sorry about leaving you out there,” Donna said to her granddaughter.

“It’s fine,” Liz replied, waving off her grandmother’s apology. She would of added she was used to being invisible, but she knew it would just cause an awkward moment in the house, and she didn’t want to be the cause of it.

“Lizzy, this is Grandmom and Granddad.” Bandit said, hugging her grandparents again. Liz nodded, not sure what else to do.

“Would you like to help in the kitchen?” Donna asked her granddaughters. Bandit agreed right away, but a sudden image of one of her mother’s boyfriends made Liz’s heart race thinking of the knives and even the stove. Her right elbow twitched as she thought of the stove, where she had received a second degree burn as punishment.

“Liz dear, do you want to help?” Donna asked again.

“Don’t try it, she doesn’t help at the house either,” Lindsey spoke up.

“I-I can’t,” Liz whispered before running out the front door.

“Liz!” Gerard shouted, running after her. Mikey followed right behind him as Lindsey just watched. They caught up with her at the end of the street.

“Something happened to you in a kitchen didn’t it?” Mikey asked as he panted.

“I shouldn’t of come here,” Liz muttered, collapsing to the ground. I have to many problems that will just get in the way of everything.”

“Elizabeth Siep, how many times do I have to tell you?” he grabbed her shoulders, ignoring the whimpering coming from his oldest daughter. “You’re my daughter, I want to be here for you with anything you need. Even if it means helping you get over your past to move on with your future.”

“Something happened to me everywhere I’ve been,” Liz finally muttered. She lifted the right sleeve of her shirt and showed him the burn scar on her elbow.

“Shit,” Mikey said, looking at the red mark on his niece’s arm. “She didn’t do that did she?”

“No, Mom was never physical, but her boyfriends were.”

“She let them burn you like that?” Gerard cleared up furiously. “That’s just as bad.”

“So, what was used to do that?” Mikey asked, crossing his arms.

“A-a stove,” Liz admitted, staring at the ground.

“Lizzy, you know we understand when something’s bothering you.” Gerard said gently, holding his hand out to her.

“Lindsey doesn’t seem to care to much,” Liz muttered.

“What makes you say that?” Mikey asked. “Lindsey’s a good person.”

“Lindsey’s afraid of why it was finally brought out after fifteen years that you exist.” Gerard admitted. “She thinks you’re here for other reasons.”

“What a sixteen year old as another agenda other than wanting to meet her father for the first time?” Mikey asked, looking shocked at his brother.

“I know it sounds crazy, but that’s Lindsey for you. You have to see her point though, my ex sends my daughter from Chicago, and doesn’t even tell me she’s coming.”

“I get that, but bro, I’ve known Liz two days and I can tell she’s genuinely here to get to know her father.” Mikey replied, shaking his head as he looked down the street. “Dude, we should get going, you know how this place gets during the holidays.”

“Yeah really,” Gerard said. “Nobody’s going to think anything of you running, they know you’re still trying to get over things from your past.” Liz nodded and followed her father and uncle back to the house.

“Hey, why don’t we take the girls to the shop tomorrow.” Mikey suggested as the walked up the porch.

“That’s a good idea, want to go?” Gerard asked Liz, pausing with his hand on the door.

“Sure,” Liz tried to reply nonchalantly. However, she was excited to see the shop her favorite band had ended up making, and since it belonged to her family, it just made it even better.

‘Oh, yeah, while we have you and Frank over here, tomorrow when we take the kids up there we need your guys’ opinion on something.” Mikey said suddenly.

“Okay,” Gerard shrugged, walking back into the house. Liz hesitated, but a look from Mikey told her it would be fine, no one was upset at her.

“Are you okay honey?” Donna asked as soon as she saw the teenager walk in behind her oldest son.

“I’m fine, just natural reflexes.” Liz replied.

“Oh well, don’t let them happen too often, I’m not as in shape as I used to be,” Mikey said, holding his chest playfully.

“Dude, when were you ever in shape?” Gerard asked his brother. Mikey shot him a glare, but smiled all the same.

“Okay you two, no arguing during Thanksgiving, especially Liz’s first one with her family.” Donald said, winking toward Liz. She smiled and looking around the house, seeing a mantel with pictures covering every inch of it.

“We’ll have to add you up there,” Gerard said, looking at the picture with her. “That’s Mikey and me when we were real little,” He pointed to one picture with two little kids, smiling really big for the camera.

“You were a little chunkster weren’t ya?” Liz asked, eying a picture of him from when he was a teenager.

“Pretty much, and an outcast to boot.”

“I’m an outcast too, no one wants to be around someone who doesn’t even have a father,” Liz muttered.

“Well, that’s the difference now, you do have a father. I don’t care how you came into my life Elizabeth, what’s important now is that you’re here, and I’m not going to let anything take you away again.”

“My mom could take me away,” she pointed out sadly. “And there’ll be nothing you can do about it because she’s got full custody of me.”

“You’re sixteen, in two years you’ll be a legal adult. It’s time you start making your own choices and stop letting your mother control your life.”

“I know but, even if she mistreated me, she still gave me the basics.”

“What, men who would beat you up for no reason? Neglect while she went off and did who the fuck knows what? I know her a lot better than you realize Liz. It really didn’t surprise me when I found out she kept you from me, or that she neglected you. The abuse from men, however, that was a good shocker, but after thinking it over, I realized that that was something else she would of done.”

“If it wasn’t for her though, I wouldn’t be here.” Liz pointed out.

“True, very true,” Gerard muttered. He sighed as he heard laughter coming from behind them. “Now’s not a good time to talk about this, let’s go enjoy the family while we can.” He held out his hand palm up. Liz stared at it for a second before putting her own smaller hand into his larger one. Looking at her grandparents, Liz wondered what it would have been like to grow up with these people constantly in her life. Would she be as trusting as Bandit, or would she still be a nervous wreck like she is now.

“So Liz, how do you like school?” Donna asked, looking toward her granddaughter.

“It’s fine, I wouldn’t of been able to survive the first day without Anthony though.”

“Anthony, Frank’s son?” Mikey asked, looking up at Gerard. Gerard nodded and sat down next to Lindsey, dragging Liz down with him. She repositioned herself to sit on the floor with Bandit and Jeremy.

“Yeah, they’re getting really close,” Bandit spoke up. “I think they’ll be each other’s BFF’s.”

“BFF?” Liz asked, looking at her sister confused.

“Best friend forever,” Gerard cleared up for her. “Don’t go jumping the gun to quickly there Bandit, we have no idea what the future has in store for us.”

“No, we don’t,” Liz agreed, thinking how likely it would be for her mother to show up to take her back to Chicago at anytime. Without thinking, she added, “That’s why we need to make every moment count, so we don’t end up feeling nothing but regret for the rest of our lives.”

“Here, here,” Mikey said, taking a sip of whatever he was drinking.

“Oh posh,” Donna said suddenly, standing up and rushing into the kitchen. Gerard hid a smile as he realized she forgot about the turkey in the oven.

“That’s your grandmother for you,” Mikey muttered, rolling his eyes as Jeremy looked confused. Liz just sat, her heart racing for no reason.

“What’s wrong?” Bandit asked her. Liz just shook her head, picking at her fingernails and staring at the floor.

“Dinner’s ready,” Donna called out a few minutes later. Everyone but Liz stood up and went into the kitchen, grabbing bowls and carrying them to the large dining room table.

“Come on squirt,” Gerard said, holding out his hand to help her up. “Time to eat.” Liz stood up slowly, taking Gerard’s hand for a little bit of help. She ended up in between Mikey and Jeremy, across from Bandit.

“Hey sissy, wait till you see the music shop. It is awesome.” Bandit said, her eyes sparkling.

“You into music?” Mikey asked.

“Yeah I am,” Liz replied.

“You’ll never guess her favorite band,” Bandit spoke up, smirking toward her father.

“Hmm, it doesn’t happen to have two brothers in it does it? One is the lead singer and the other is the bass player. Initialed as MCR.”

“Yep,” Gerard replied, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “She told us her first day in LA when she realized who I really was.”

“She only knew you as her possible father, not as Gerard Way the rock star?”

“Pretty much,” Liz replied, picking at the turkey on her plate.

“You know, that bird isn’t going to stand up and walk away.” Donald pointed out.

“Sorry,” Liz muttered, taking a bite of the meat.

“Let me guess, this is the first time you’ve celebrated Thanksgiving isn’t it?” Donna asked gently.

“No, but it has been a while.” Lizzy admitted. “I say the last Thanksgiving dinner I had was when I was four years old.”

“Four? Tha not right,” Jeremy said, his mouth full of food.

“Jer, don’t talk with your mouth full, you’ll end up choking and dying.” Mikey said to his son as he ruffled the boy’s hair.

“It’s just so unbelievable that anyone, including Eliza, can treat their own child that way.”

“Mom wasn’t very liked around here was she?”

“Well, she did lie about miscarrying you.” Gerard pointed out, his eyebrows raising slightly. “I don’t know what I was thinking with her.”

“You weren’t, you were drunk most of your relationship,” Mikey reminded him.

“True,” Gerard muttered, sitting back in his chair. He took a sip of his soda, a piece of ice sliding with the liquid. He chewed on the ice as he watched his eldest daughter.

“So, you drank?” Lizzy asked uncertainly.

“Understand this before you think anything of it,” Donald said quickly. “He was in a dark place during that time. His grandmother just died, he was in a band that was getting big way too fast, the pressure of it all was getting to him.”

“And I think I drank because it was the only way I could really deal with Eliza.” Gerard added, scratching his chin. “Liz, honey,” he sighed when he saw the look in her eyes. “This was eighteen years ago, I’ve been sober for sixteen years, and not planning on going back to it anytime soon. I have too much going for me to fall off the wagon now.”

“Yeah, he has Mom and us,” Bandit spoke up with a smile.

The rest of dinner went by without anymore mentioning of Eliza. Gerard smiled when he realized Liz had relaxed enough to enjoy herself, especially toward her uncle. They talked about music, books, pretty much everything.

“Hey, watch this,” Mikey muttered to Liz and Bandit as he smirked toward Gerard, who was talking to his father. He grabbed a biscuit and took a piece off, tossing it toward Gerard and quickly looking away. Gerard looked around before going back to his conversation with his father, a knowing smile in his eyes. Mikey picked another piece of the bread out and, after making sure Gerard wasn’t looking, tossed it at him again, this time it landed on top of his brother’s head. Bandit giggled as Liz just watched. Gerard looked toward her and gave her a wink, telling her it was okay, that he knew what was going on. Liz looked over at her uncle and giggled a little as he made the ball of bread bigger this time. Just as he threw it, Gerard turned to look at him and caught the ball in his mouth.

“Score!” Mikey shouted, pumping his fist in the air. Bandit and Liz both laughed as Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“Ready for dessert?” Donna asked as she stood up from the table. Liz didn’t hesitate a minute as she stood up.

“I’ll help,” she said, following her grandmother into the kitchen. Gerard watched with a feeling of pride. She had completely turned around in the short amount of time she had been with him, even more so since meeting her family.

“She’s a sweet girl Gerard,” Alicia said, turning to her brother-in-law.

“She is,” Gerard agreed. “You really have no idea how much she’s turned around though. If she was scared of something, she would run, not face it head on like she just did.”

“She doesn’t want to be afraid, I can see that just sitting next to her.” Mikey said.
Gerard looked over toward his wife, noticing she’s been quiet all night.

“You okay over there?” he asked, grabbing her hand.

“I don’t know,” She replied honestly. “Is it wrong that I still can’t bring myself around to trusting a sixteen year old?”

“It’s not the sixteen year old you don’t trust Linds, it’s the woman who raised her you don’t trust. Liz is here to be here, to get to know her family. If anyone has a double agenda with her being here, it’s Eliza, and I’ll be damned if I let her do anything to hurt you, or either one of these girls.”