My Father, My Brother

"I bet it was nice to see Gerard again wasn't it? You two certainly seemed to be glad to see each other." Jamia smiled at me over her shoulder as she washed the dishes. I smiled back as I dried the dish she'd just washed and put it back in the cupboard.

"Yeah he's a cool guy, it's nice seeing him when he's out here. That kid of his is super cute as well."

"Isn't she? Totally adorable, and doesn't she look like Lindsey now that she's a little older!?"

"I know right! Although I can see a little of Gerard in her too." She said something else too, but I wasn't really listening, I just nodded in all the right places and smiled at her as I should.

Five minutes later, with my lungs heavy with smoke, I sat on the porch in the back yard, cigarette warming my rapidly cooling, still damp hands. With a sigh I blew a thick cloud of smoke around me, feeling the air heat up temporarily. I looked at the ground as I tapped away my ash, then took another long drag as I thought of everything that had happened tonight. As I touched the filter of my smoke to my lips, I closed my eyes and imagined the pressure was him, kissing me softly. My breath hitched in my throat and caused me to choke on the inhaled toxic fumes. Texas, who was laying on the ground beside me, looked up in alarm as I coughed and spluttered.

"It's cool Tex, I'm just choking on my own emotions." I whispered to him. He huffed, as grumpy dogs often do, and lay back down, his concern for my wellbeing all but gone. I looked over the fence that surrounded my yard at the glowing moon. I smiled to myself, remembering all the times Gerard and I used to lay in yards or fields and watch the sunset until we were pointing out figures in the stars. I shook my head just as Jamia came out to join me.

"Frankie..." She said softly. I turned and smiled at her. She looked half worried, half excited. She sat beside me as I stubbed my smoke out and blew the remains away from her. Her soft hands took mine and she smiled at me nervously.

"I have something to tell you, and I don't know how you're going to react." I started to feel nervous too.

"Well... Frankie... We're going to have a baby too..." She bit her lip and smiled at me looking so nervous at the same time. The world around me seemed to freeze. The heat suddenly left my body and my hands began shaking.

"A baby? Us? Are we ready for this? I mean... a screaming child!?"

"Baby, calm down. He or she will have us both to look after it, they could grow up with Bandit and they could play together and grow up together. It would be amazing!" I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as she grinned at me. I returned her smile after a couple of moments.

"No no, you're right. It will be fantastic!" She squealed and hugged me tightly.

*Ellies POV*

"Another! Another screaming kid keeping me awake. I can't get away from the God damn things!"

"Calm down sugar, it just means you could have your own mini army to follow you around." Gerard tried to reason with me.

"I don't want to be followed around by some screaming kids! I want my quiet house back! My dads back together, my dogs, and my life back in New Jersey!" I saw Gerard visibly flinch.

"It's a good job Lindsey isn't here cause that would have hurt her. You need to realise Ell that it's over. Frank and I are happier this way."

"But you're not! I've never seen either of you so miserable and tense! When you were together you were like love struck teenagers in a soppy romance movie Gee! Now you're both tense and awkward around each other and I don't want a broken family!" Puzzle flinched in my hand as I slammed my fist on the bookshelf that I was pacing in front of.

"You don't have a broken family Ellie! You're lucky enough to have two dads and two moms! As well as a little sister and another sibling on the way!"

"From two different families! And they are not my moms!"

"You mean like Frank and I aren't your dads?" He said as he looked up at me through his fallen bangs. I felt a twinge of guilt and calmed down a little.

"That's different Gee, you guys adopted me, these women haven't."

"But they treat you just like any other mother would do. Lindsey loves you!"

"But you love Frank! Don't try and deny it Gerard I can see the way you still look at each other. Just drop the crap and run away together or something, the three of us!" I sat by him eagerly and touched his arm with my rat free hand.

"And abandon our wives and children? Unlikely Ellie. Things are different now there's children involved. I love Lindsey, a lot, and I'm not prepared to let her go, but there's now also Bandit to consider, plus Frank has his kid to think of now too."

"Well just know I don't like it. I only have a few years of my childhood left, and I don't want to spend that with a broken family!"