Coming Home

“He was there, like he was waiting on you?” Jeff asked Adrienne as she bounced Lily on her knee.

“I don’t know what he was doing there, but yes, Brian was at Brawl’s office.” Adrienne sighed, adjusting Lily again. “Lily, baby, settle down please.”

“You’re worked up Addy, meaning she’s going to be worked up too.” Jeff said, taking the baby from Adrienne.

“I’m sorry,” Addy sighed, letting her head fall in her hands.

“Stop it, you have nothing to be sorry for.” Jeff said, standing up and placing Lily in the swing that stood in the corner of the room. He started it up and walked back to sit down when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” he said. “It’s probably Matt wondering what the hell is going on.” He opened the front door, and his eyes widened at the man standing in front of him. He knew exactly who he was, he just had no idea how he found the house.

“Let me guess, Haner.” Jeff said coolly.

“Where’s my wife?” Brian asked.

“Not here,” Jeff replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Bullshit, her car is right there.” Brian shouted, pushing past Jeff.

“You better get out of here right now or else I’m going to call the police.” Jeff warned.

“They can’t fucking do anything. I’m here to discuss things with my wife.”

“There is nothing to discuss.” Adrienne said, standing up from the couch. “Everything that needed to be said was already said.”

“Not everything,” Brian said. “You don’t know that I looked straight at Brawl and told him to draw up the papers, and asked where I needed to sign. I was ready to give you the divorce since I knew I couldn’t change your mind.”

“Is that why you’re here? To tell me that the divorce is going through?”

“No, I’m here because I’m still not ready to give up on us. I know I was wrong with the way I let things get and I can not tell you enough how sorry I am for it.”

“Then don’t try,” Jeff spoke up, walking toward Brian. “Just leave her alone, sign your damn name, and get the hell out of here.”

“Okay, this has nothing to do with you,” Brian snapped. “Now get the fuck out of my face before I make you.”

“I’d like to see you try pal.”

“Wait, I know you now,” Brian said suddenly. “Zack’s a huge fan of yours. I personally don’t see why. You’re nothing but an adrenaline happy, drug addict alcoholic with no talent.”

“Brian!” Adrienne snapped.

“Well if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black!” Jeff laughed. “You do just as much shit as I’ve done, and you’re the most talent less guitarist I’ve ever heard.”

“Jeffrey!” Adrienne groaned, knowing Brian’s temper. To her surprise, Brian just shrugged.

“If that’s how you feel about things, but at least I never got arrested for it.” Brian replied.

“Can you two stop it?”

“Why the hell is he here anyway?” Brian asked Adrienne.

“This is my house I can have whoever I want here,” Adrienne replied. “If you must know though, he and his brother helped me get on my feet. They helped me with the pregnancy, and they’re still helping me. Which is more than you can say.”

“Because you left in the middle of the fucking night while I was asleep!” Brian shouted. “I woke up the next morning and you were gone, no note, nothing. Your clothes were gone, your jewelry, everything was gone, and I had no fucking idea on how to find you. I tried your mother, but she said she hadn’t heard from you. I even fucking asked Valary if she heard from you, and she said no. Do you know how hurt she is right now? That you just up and left like that without letting her, you supposed best friend, know?”

“I did what I had to do,” Adrienne stated. In the corner, Lily, who had fallen asleep, woke up and started crying. Jeff automatically started walking toward her, but Brian glared at him and pushed past him, shutting off the swing and gently picking the baby up and holding her close to him.

“Shh, it’s okay baby girl,” he muttered, swaying from side to side with her. She calmed down at once, which surprised both Jeff and Adrienne. What surprised them the most however, was how natural Brian seemed to be with her.

“Don’t forget Add, my father had my half-sister when I was a teenager. I remember how to take care of a baby even from that long ago.” Brian said, glancing over at her raised eyebrows.

“How silly of me,” Adrienne muttered, rolling her eyes. Brian glared at her, but didn’t say anything. He just turned back to the little girl in his arms, his little girl. He felt a rush of emotions when he realized he was holding his daughter for the first time in her seven months of life. What surprised him was how much love he felt for her already.

Jeff watched Brian with the little girl, and he noticed the look on the other man’s face. It was the same look he gave his own daughter.

“Adrienne,” Jeff muttered, turning to face her. “If you want out of his life, that’s fine. Just, don’t cut him off from his daughter.”

“What?” Adrienne asked, her eyes widening at her best friend.

“Addy, as a father of a little girl watching another, I can see that Brian is in love with the girl already. The look I see in his eyes is the same look I know I have when I’m looking at Ruby. He wants to be there for his daughter, and you shouldn’t deny him of that.”

“A lot of good it’ll do, he’s on the road for four months at a time.”

“Right now I’m not,” Brian pointed out. “Unless you forgot, our drummer just died. We’re still trying to get back on our feet after it happening. We haven’t even worked on the new album since he died. Honestly, it could all end right now and I wouldn’t really care. All I cared about when I got here was bringing my wife home. Well, things changed obviously. So now I want my wife and my daughter home where they belong.” Brian looked up at Jeff and sighed. He handed Lily to him, somehow knowing that he could trust the man with his daughter. Brian grabbed Adrienne’s hands and led her to a different room.

“I fucked up, I know I did. I never meant for it to happen. Like I said before, I can not tell you enough how sorry I am for everything I put you through. I was stupid and I am sorry.”

“I know you are,” Adrienne finally sighed. “I just don’t know Brian. I trusted you to not hurt me once, and you did. I can’t trust you to not do it again.”

“Adrienne, when we were dating, I made a promise to you I wouldn’t intentionally hurt you. I never broke that promise. I hurt you, yes, but it wasn’t intentional. I never meant to do it. I love you way too much to do anything like that to you on purpose.”

“Just, give me another chance,” Brian pleaded. “Take time to give me another chance, and if I fuck up again, then I won’t fight you anymore. The marriage will be over, and I’ll skip out of your life. I’ll never bother you again.”

“What about Lily?” Adrienne asked. “I go back to you, she’ll be there, and she’ll get attached to you. If we completely separate then she’ll be heartbroken because she lost her father.”

“I’m not forcing you into this Addy,” Brian whispered after being silent for a minute. “Just, give it some though, please. I’m tired of playing this game. I want to be with you still. Think things over, and if you still feel like you want the divorce, I’ll give it to you, and relinquish my rights towards Lily that way if marry someone else, he can adopt her as his own.” Adrienne saw that the statement was forced, but she was shocked and touched nonetheless.

Looking into Brian’s eyes, she saw that what Jeff said was the truth. Brian was in love with their daughter, even if he had only known she existed for three hours. She knew that once he loved something, it stuck, so him offering to relinquish his rights nearly killed him to say to her.

“Brian,” she started, but he shook his head.

“Just, think it over,” he said. “I already got a hotel room in Raleigh booked.” He found a dry erase board that was hanging on Adrienne’s refrigerator, so he took the marker and wrote down his cell number. “I had to change it.” he explained. “Some crazed fan got a hold of it and kept calling. I think it was because Johnny wanting to be a smartass.” Adrienne nodded and watched as he walked through the living room. He stopped as he started passing Jeff who was still holding Lily. Adrienne watched as Brian bent and kissed Lily on the head before nodding toward Jeff.

“Brian wait,” Adrienne said suddenly. Brian glanced up toward his wife, seeing the tears clinging to her eyelashes. Adrienne quickly ran up to him and crushed him in a hug. Brian automatically wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her back. They were broken apart by Brian’s cell phone ringing.

“The fuck?” he muttered, pulling it out. He saw it was Zack, so he decided to ignore it. What he couldn’t ignore was the voicemail, since Zack never left him any if Brian ended up missing a call.

“Damn it,” Brian sighed. “I better go call him back,” he went into the kitchen and dialed Zack’s number.

“Syn bro, where are you?”

“Trying to reconnect with Adrienne,” Brian replied. “Why?”

“We need you back in Cali ASAP.” Zack groaned.

“Can’t this fucking wait? Zee, there’s a lot going on here.” Brian mumbled, looking into the living room to see Adrienne was now holding Lily.

“Sorry bro, you’ll have to go back to her.” Zack answered. “Okay I’ll fucking tell him,” Zack suddenly said to someone with him. “Johnny’s having an anxiety attack. He’s freaking the fuck out and wants all of us here.”

“Fucking hell,” Brian whispered, snapping the phone shut.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I have to go back to California. Johnny’s having some sort of attack and he’s being overdramatic about things.”

“I-It’s fine,” Adrienne muttered, staring up into his dark brown eyes. “Go, help Johnny.”

“I love you Adrienne,” Brian whispered to her, his head leaning against hers. “I always have, and I always will.” He kissed Lily’s head again before rushing out of the house, vowing the kill Johnny once the short ass was feeling better.