My Father, My Brother

I yawned and leaned my head on Jamia's shoulder, pulling the blanket more around me, even though it was a warm night. She put her arm around my shoulders and took another mouthful of popcorn. Frank was laid on the floor, his head on a pillow in front of the couch. We were watching The Exorcist. It was pretty scary, but not as bad as I'd anticipated. Jamia's fingers were tapping on my shoulder absently, and it was soothing me until I started to feel sleepy. Texas growled at the TV.

"Dude, not cool, shush!" Frank stage whispered, pulling him down to lay beside him and shutting him up. I rubbed the dogs back with my foot before curling back up beside Jamia. Another hour later and the movie was over. I was partly asleep on Jamia and Frank was sat up looking at the screen excitedly.

"Wake up loser!" He cried happily, patting my leg and stretching. I was only eleven PM, far too early to be sleeping. Jamia gave me a cuddle.

"Aw let her sleep if she's tired Frank. Don't be a bully."

"You kidding!? She never sleeps at this time."

"It's true Jamia." I yawned, totally contradicting myself.

"An early night never hurt anyone. Come on Frank, bedtime." He playfully flipped her off, which earned him a careful smack around the head as Jamia walked past, before she leaned down and gave him a quick kiss. Did I tell you they'd moved? Yeah they moved into a three bedroom house instead of the one bedroomed one they were in before. So they could accomodate guests apparently. Frank took me upstairs and into one of the spare rooms and set up my bed. I snuggled in as he sat gingerly on the edge of my bed, smiling sadly at me.

"So how's Gerard doing?" He asked quietly, glancing towards the door. I nodded slowly.

"He's good... Why?"

"Just wondering... I miss him, yanno?"

"Why don't you talk to him about this? Then maybe you could work something out!" I felt a slight bubbling excitement in my stomach at the thought.

"I couldn't take that babies father away from her mother Ellie! We've already done that to you, I could never do it to another child." I sighed sadly and the excitement died down again. He kissed my forehead and tucked me in before saying goodnight and leaving my room, closing the door behind him.

***

*Franks POV*

"Frank, hurry your ass up!" Jamia called from the bottom of the stairs. I readjusted myself in the mirror one last time, making sure I looked okay before joining her.

"Wow, you look gorgeous." She said, sounding surprised. I grinned, as this was the reaction I wanted from people. Ellie looked knowingly at me before she clipped Texas' leash to his collar and we made our way to the car so we could drive to the park, where we were meeting Gerard, Lindsey and Bandit.

"H-Hey Frankie... Jamia." Gerard nodded politely at her. She smiled at him before her and Lindsey linked arms and walked off toward the baby playground, Jamia fussing over Bandit in her stroller. Gerard and I hugged kind of awkwardly. Ellie half smirked at us before she followed Jamia and Lindsey, the dog trotting happily and obliviously beside her. Gerard watched her go over my shoulder, before kissing my lips quickly.

"How are you beautiful?" He whispered, kissing me again before nudging me towards the girls, and we followed them casually.

"I'm fine. Are you? How's being a full time dad to a baby?" He let out a small laugh, pushing his hands into his jacket pockets.

"I'm okay. Being a dad is fascinating. I get to experience all these firsts that I missed with Ellie. I can't wait till she's toddling around with us and talking. It's gonna be awesome. Have you missed me?" He looked at me sideways through his bangs, a small smile on his face. I frowned slightly and nodded, looking down. It actually pained me how much I'd missed him.

"Well don't worry, once we get back on tour. This is going to be a lot easier. Ellie can stay with the girls so we wont even have to tiptoe around her."

"So we're really doing this? Going behind our girls backs and seeing each other whenever we can?" I looked up at him as we approached the play area, leaning on the waist high fence and watching the girls with the kids. He nodded and smiled sideways at me.

"Yeah... I guess we are. You know if we get caught we're in so much shit."

"I kind of like that... It's kinda dangerous." He laughed at me and pulled his Marlborro Reds out of his pocket, offering me one and his lighter as we lit up. I inhaled deeply and let the smoke out slowly, enjoying this moment of closeness between myself and Gerard. He leaned down and pet Texas absently.

"I missed this guy. Peppers and Mama too obviously." He smiled while the dog licked his hand.

"Well you could come back. We could move back into our house and -"

"Frank... Stop it." He said quietly. I sighed and took another long drag.

"Can't blame me for trying." He laughed softly to himself and looked at me. I held his eye contact, savouring the precious time with him.

"Dad!" Ellie called coming over to us with an innocent look on her face. We both looked at her suspiciously.

"Yes?"

"Please can I have ice cream from the truck?" She asked, nodding at the truck pulled up beside the parking lot. Gerard pulled a ten dollar note from his wallet and told her to get one for everyone.

Jamia invited the Way family around for dinner that night, which was good because it meant more time with Gerard. Man I think I'm getting obsessed. I needed to think of a way to get him back, to make him mine again.

***

I watched him carefully from across the table, the little movements, twitches, things that defined him and helped me read him so easily. He was uncomfortable. I watched him smile at Lindsey throughout conversation, while still sneaking quick smiles and glances at me. The only time he seemed to fully relax was when he looked at Bandit or spoke to her as she sat in his lap, babbling away as babies do. Ellie was speaking animatedly with Lindsey and Jamia, leaving Gerard and I to pretty much just talk to each other, which suited me fine. He was sitting opposite me at the table anyway, and I felt my pulse rise as his leg brushed against mine purposefully. I glanced at the ceiling and he immediately took the hint.

"Hey Frank, where's the bathroom in this new pad?" He asked, loud enough for the girls to hear over their conversation, but quiet enough for it to still be subtle and unsuspicious.

"I'll show you man, c'mon." I stood from the table and waited in the doorway while he handed Bandit to Lindsey then followed me upstairs. As soon as we reached the bathroom he pushed me in, closing and locking the door behind us.

"You know how badly I've wanted to touch you all day? It's been torture!" He whispered in my ear as he pressed me up against the bathroom door. I sighed with contentment as his arms snaked around my waist and his lips pressed lightly against my neck. I wrapped my arms around his neck and just held him close, savouring this closeness. He loosened his grip slightly so he could kiss me properly. It was slow, but passionate. Lusty, but loving. I felt myself melting between him and the bathroom wall. One of my hands tangled in his hair as he lifted me up so I could wrap my legs around his waist, the other hand was on the back of his neck.

"I love you Frankie." He whispered as he broke the kiss, resting his forehead against mine.

"I love you too Gee. Why can't it be like this all the time?" I sighed and kissed the tip of his nose.

"It can be while we're on tour. We'll have to hide it from the guys but it'll be easy enough." I nodded and stroked the side of his neck with my fingertips.

"Come on sugar, they're gonna think I'm pooping." I laughed out loud at that, which made him smile at me before he kissed me one last time and put me down, allowing me to unlock the door and lead him back downstairs.

"You look really hot today by the way." I said quietly at the bottom of the stairs, eyeing up his tight stone washed gray jeans, skinny black tshirt and the leather jacket. He smirked and winked at me, pecking my lips one last time.

"You're not too shabby yourself." The girls barely even glanced up as we came back in, except Bandit who squeeled in delight as her daddy came back into the room. He grinned and picked her up, kissing her dribbly cheek and sitting her back on his lap when he sat down.

***

"Yeah it's been wonderful to catch up! Sucks you're going back soon though." Jamia said as she and Lindsey walked to the door. Ellie was behind them carrying Bandit, and Gerard and I were at the back. He held my hand slyly, letting go as soon as Jamia turned to kiss his cheek in goodbye.

"Thanks for having us over. It's been a great night." He grinned charmingly at Jamia.

"It was our pleasure! We missed you guys didn't we Frank?"

"Hell yeah we did." I held Gerard's eye as I said it. He smiled a little to himself. Ellie gave me a half hug as they left, as she still had Bandit on one hip. I fluffed her dark hair up a little and said goodbye to them all, watching them climb into the car before they drove away.