Gravity Don't Mean Too Much to Me

Lindsey lay in bed with her husband, worrying about her daughter. Why would she lie to her own parents? Bandit had always been an honest girl, in fact, Lindsey wasn't sure if she'd ever heard anything negative come from Bandit's mouth. Bandit was an angle in Lindsey's eyes, and in Gerard's eyes too, and that's what made it hurt the most.

The look in Bandit's eyes had told Lindsey at once that she was hiding something, the guilt was there. There was no way a bruise like that could've been made from falling a few metres from the ground, Lindsey had seen the climbing frame in the playground plenty of times. In fact, Lindsey knew that actually, the climbing frame didn't even have any metal bars. It was entirely made of plastic.

"What's wrong, sugar?" Gerard whispered into her ear, cuddling up to her.

"I was just thinking about Bandit. What she said earlier, do you think it's true?"

Gerard loosened his grip on her and stopped kissing her neck. "About hitting her eye on the climbing frame?" Lindsey nodded. "Why should she lie?"

Lindsey shrugged, pulling gently away from her husband. "I just don't think she was completely honest with us. I mean, after what happened with.. " Lindsey held back all the names she could use for the girl. "With.. Vicky, I just think that maybe-"

"You think that Bandit's being bullied?" Gerard was completely involved in the conversation now, and Lindsey could see that he was really protective of Bandit. He sat up and took hold of Lindsey's hand, looking her directly in the eyes. "If you think that anyone is bullying our girl, I'll be there, right next to you, protecting her. If any motherfucker thinks she can hurt our little girl, they've got another thing coming."

Lindsey smiled in appreciation. "Thank you. What are we going to do if she is being bullied, though?"

Gerard hesistated, but not for long. "Well, we can't have you doing what you did last time, as priceless as that was." He winked playfully and kissed her cheek. "But I think we should approach this in a much more mature way. We have to set an example for Bandit, we can't go screaming at any child that lays a finger on her."

"As fun as it is."

"As fun as it is." Smiled Gerard, hugging Lindsey once more. "Do you want me to talk to Bandit?"

Lindsey thought about this. Usually, Lindsey would love to talk to Bandit about anything, but maybe Gerard would be better this time. Her husband hardly ever got to have heart to heart chats with his daughter, and Lindsey decided that this time, Gerard could comfort her.

"Yeah, but don't try and rush anything out of her, honey. She's probably embarrised as it is, she doesn't need her parents pressing her for information too."

"Well" Gerard kissed Lindsey's neck. "Maybe there's nothing more for Bandit to tell. She's never lied to anyone, I don't see why she should start now."

Lindsey decided to leave that subject to rest for now, although she couldn't help but feel that she already knew that Bandit was lying. There was no 'if'.

"Do you think the next one will be just as sweet as Bandit? Or do you think we'll have a bad boy?"

"Or girl!" Smirked Lindsey, glad to have the subject changed. She put a hand on her stomach, which was only slightly a little bigger. You couldn't tell she was pregnant yet, which was why she could still help Mindless Self Indulgence with interviews and occasionally performances. "I think we'll be in trouble if we have a little trouble maker. If they're anything like you or Frank-"

"Me? Why me? I'm much more innocent than you, sugar."

"You are not!" She playfully poked her husband. "I just like to show my personality in a more.. expressive way."

"Expressive? I'll have you know that I can be extremely expressive."

"Oh I know you can, Mr Way." She winked, stroking her husband's face. "Speaking of being expressive..have you thought of a name?"

Her husband's grin grew wider as he pecked her lips. "It's a secret."

"You've thought of a name?" Lindsey was impressed. She hadn't thought of any names yet, as hard as she'd tried. Nothing could top Bandit's name, and there was no way she was going to give this baby an ordinary name like Kim or Tom.

"Yeah. But I've only come up with a boy's name. I thought of going for a name we could use either way, like we did with Bandit, but-"

"It was just too hard." Lindsey could relate to that. She had sped hours trying to think of a creative name for the baby. A unisex name would've solved their problems, it was just finding the right one. "You have to tell me, honey."

Gerard shook his head playfully. "How about this, I'll tell you the name, but only when we're all out together, eating at a four star restaurant."

Lindsey chuckled. "Four star?"

"Five star restaurants get on my nerves. Too classy."

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Gerard knocked on Bandit's bedroom door. He could faintly hear 'I Don't Love You' playing, which worried him. Bandit only ever listened to his band whenever he went away, according to Lindsey.

The door swung open and Bandit's face lit up. Gerard thought he saw a flash of panic in Bandit's expression, but he must have imagined it, because she was now hugging him.

"Do you mind if I come in?" Bandit gave a shy nod and gestured for Gerard to sit on her bed. He sat down and took in his surroundings. There were toys everywhere, comic books, CD's, props from the tour Gerard had given her, and clothes. "Bandit, you need to tidy up in here."

"Sorry, dad." She began picking up her clothes and putting them in her draws. Gerard took this as an opportunity to start talking. He bent down and picked up his daughter's comic books and began flicking through them.

"You've been reading the comics Frank gave you, B? He'll be happy to know that, I hope you're ready for the quiz he'll give you, testing you on your knowledge. Your Uncle Frank can be a bit of a nerd that way." Gerard chuckled, and he saw Bandit giggled too.

"Uncle Frank is not a nerd." She smiled, closing her draws. She walked over to her father and took the comics from him. "I've only read half, Frank did give me a lot to read."

"He sure did." Gerard paused. This was it. "Do you read a lot at school?"

Gerard watched carefully for Bandit's reply. "I don't really like to read too much at school, I much prefer hanging out with my friends." Bandit shrugged.

"Oh, well are your friends being nice to you? Do you enjoy being with them?"

Bandit looked confused at the sudden change in topic. "Yeah, my friends are great. They're so nice to me." Bandit sat down next to her dad now that her room was tidy.

"That's good. But is everyone at school nice to you?" Gerard saw the panic for sure this time, so he quickly added; "It's just that, if anyone was treating you badly, you wouldn't have to hide anything from me. If you're going to tell anyone, it should be me."

Bandit looked up at her dad. "But-what about mom?"

"If you don't want your mom to know, for whatever reason, I can keep a secret." Gerard put a comforting arm around Bandit. She hadn't denied anything yet, so something must be wrong.

"I-" Lindsey entered the room, with a huge grin on her face. Gerard sighed and tried to signal to Lindsey that now was not the time, but Lindsey came in anyway.

"Frank's on the phone for you Bandit. He sounds happy."