‹ Prequel: Lullaby And Goodnight

My Father, My Brother

Right

*Franks POV*

With a blessed scream, my first born entered the world, followed only minutes later by my second. Each was placed in my arms. These wriggling, screaming, beautiful little miracles that would be my priority for the rest of my life. I gazed upon these tiny wonders, visions of their first days at school, their birthdays, walking them down the aisle. My mind whirled with all of these possibilities. My daughters were then whisked away from me to be cleaned up and dressed. I stood up on shaky legs and made my way to my wife, tears rolling silently down her cheeks. She laughed weakly up at me.

"You're crying Frank." She smiled. I touched my cheek with a trembling hand and smiled.

"I've just never witnessed something so miraculous before." I leaned down and kissed Jamia, telling her how proud I was of her for bringing our perfect daughters into the world. Our girls were brought back to us wrapped in the cute little pink wool blankets Jamia's mom had knitted for them. Jamia and I were each handed a twin. I gazed down at my bundled ball of new baby smell.

"This is Cherry..." I said quietly, looking at her tiny face looking back at me.

"So this little treasure is our Lily." Jamia smiled proudly back at me. I leaned over and kissed Lily, before I found myself crying again.

"I can't believe how incredible this is. It's sad I missed this with Ellie, but wow... It's amazing..." Jamia smiled weakly at me. Her midwife came over and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Come on Mr. Iero, Jamia needs rest. You can hold your little miss while we make our way to the mother and baby ward. We'll wheel Jamia there now." I walked alongside Jamia on the way up, where our families greeted us. Ellie stood there among them, holding two pink balloons. She ran over to us and tied the balloons to each side of Jamia's hospital bed before fussing excitedly over the twins.

"Dad... they're so beautiful... Oh my god." She held her arms out as I laid Cherry in them. Our parents were the next to fuss, then the rest. The midwife positioned Jamia's bed while everyone fussed our tiny new additions until eventually, everyone reluctantly handed them back to be placed in their cribs. Although they were still cooed over and I lost count of how many stuffed animals were placed in there. We almost lost the girls among them. Even Gerard bought them gifts. Lots of them. From adorable little outfits to sheets for the cribs that he knew I wanted to get them to little decorations for the nursery. I gave him a hug, making it look as casual as possible while wanting him to feel the affection behind it.

"Congratulations Frankie, they're so beautiful." I smiled down at all three of my girls.

"I know, thank you. They look like their mommy." He smiled at them too and went to kiss Jamia on the forehead and congratulate her too. Ellie came over and leaned against me.

"Three little sisters in such a short amount of time. This will take some getting used to." She smiled up at me.

"Well those girls are gonna look up to you. You're their big sister and you'll be their idol one day."

"Well I'll teach them what good music is and do their hair and stuff. Can I have a brother next though?" She asked both Gerard and I.

"Rein those horses back in there Ell. Not for a while yet."

*Time Elapse: March 2012. Gerard's POV*

"Okay dad but just remember, I know exactly what's going on." Ellie said as I prepared to leave the house. It was just lucky that Lyn-Z was in the yard collecting ladybugs and blowing bubbles with Bandit so she didn't hear. I nodded guiltily. I knew she'd had her suspicions, but my silence only confirmed it for her.That I was back with Frankie, behind our wives backs of course. This had been going on for almost three years now. Jamia was also now heavily pregnant with Franks third child, and they'd been told they were having a boy, though they kept that out of public knowledge until he was actually born. Of course this put understandable strain on our relationship but I was still there for him indefinitely. We'd also celebrated Ellie's 18th birthday recently and Bandit was now three years old, closely followed by Cherry and Lily, both two. All four girls were beautiful. Ellie's hair had darkened to a golden shade of blonde since moving to California, and looked even more gorgeous for it. Bandit looked every bit like her mother. No trace of me in there at all, almost like asexual reproduction I'd suspect, if, you know, I hadn't been there at the time of her conception. Cherry had a natural Mohawk when she was old enough for her hair to grow in, but now they were older, both girls had shoulder length, straight, chocolate brown hair and dark eyes to match, like Jamia's. Although, you could actually see Frankie in his girls, unlike in mine. All in all, Frank and I had two, beautiful families, so we frequently asked ourselves... Why are we betraying them?. Of course, we always came up with the same answer; Because we're in love of course.

But to most, that wasn't a good excuse. Of course our fans had become suspicious as well, we were being caught together in public all the time! We just weren't affectionate in public for that reason. Secretly, Frank and I had returned to our home we previously lived in with Ellie back in Jersey. Turns out he'd never sold the house and used it as a storage space. We did refurnish it cheaply, putting only very basics in, such as a bed, a couch, kettle etc, just for when we needed it, but it became our haven again. How badly we longed to be back in that house. To just grab the kids and come back, be a family again, but of course we could't as we were so frequently reminded. So for now, Frank and I just lay in each other arms, hot and naked and sweaty, pretending everything was how it once was. He laced his fingers with mine and sighed as he lay his head on my chest.

"Ellie knows, doesn't she Gee?" He asked as his thumb rubbed the back of my hand.

"I'd put money on it she does. She's eighteen babe, she's always been onto us. I just don't know how she feels about it any more." He leaned up and looked at me curiously, with his head cocked to one side.

"How'd you mean?"

"I mean, she used to wish and beg for us to be together again, but now... she seems a bit pissed off that we're doing this." Frankie sighed and sat up, leaning back against the head board and absently playing with my hair.

"She's old enough now to see how well and truly wrong this is. We've set a terrible example for her and she knows it. I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but maybe we should just come clean..."

"Are you insane!?" I almost yelled, making him jump as I sat bolt upright. "How can you even suggest that!? Image the rumours, the arguments, the screaming and yelling. Imagine only having weekend or holiday access to your kids... I can't do that to Bandit and you certainly aren't doing that to your three either."

"Maybe it would be worth it though Gee. Like you said, we can see the kids on weekends or holidays, Skype with them whenever, but that would be the price to pay for us to live as a family again. You, me and Ellie."

"Frank... How can you say that? Those are your kids! You'd want Jamia to be a single mother? Or have some guy come be a stepdad and take your place in your childrens lives? Yiou'd really want that?"

"Well... No."

"Exactly, so quit with the silly suggestions."

"Sorry..." He mumbled, almost sadly. I began to feel guilty.

"No I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I just disagree."

"And that's fine! We'll take things as they come, right?"

"Right."