Betrayed

The next day was Bear’s birthday. We all decided to go to a restaurant of Bear’s choosing, and surprisingly, he picked Carabba’s.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go to Chuck-E-Cheese or something bud?” Jason asked, tousling his nephew’s hair. I had to admit, it made me smile to think of Jason as an uncle.
“We could have rented the whole place,” Jimmy muttered to me, I shushed him and laughed. Matt rolled his eyes. Just because we had all this money didn’t mean we wanted Bear to act like a spoiled brat. We wanted him to have as normal of a childhood as he could.
“Nope, I like sketti.”
“It’s SPAghetti,” Nech corrected and laughed.
“No, I like sketti, mom. It tastes better.”
We all laughed and entered the restaurant. They were able to lead us to a separate dining room that was used for special occasions so we wouldn’t be bothered. Kind of hard to keep impressionable five years olds normal when screaming fans come up to their godfathers asking for autographs.

We were able to get through dinner without incident and then we asked the waitress to bring the cake out. We dimmed the lights and sang to my nephew and took as many pictures as we could. In the candlelight, the faces of Neche, Matt and Bear were illuminated, and it felt like someone gave my heart a squeeze. She looked so happy, husband by her side, son on her lap… it brought tears to my eyes. I would remember this moment forever.

It finally came time to go home, and as happy as I was to sleep in my own bed, I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping there alone. We had said goodbye to the boys of Avenged on the bus and Jason and Matt had driven us to the airport. Bear was sitting my sisters lap with his head on Matt’s shoulder. I turned around and took a picture before turning back to Jason. He took my hand and brought it to his lips.
“Did you guys ever think we’d be here?” Matt asked from the back seat.
“What do you mean bro?”
“I mean, this feels so much like when we were in high school. Neche and me sitting in the back, you and Mina up front. Only, we’re not going to school…”
“We’re going home,” Neche finished. He smiled down at her and she stretched her neck up to peck his lips. Jason continued to hold my hand.
“I never thought I’d be here at all,” Neche whispered.
“Why mama?”
“Shh, Mama’s being silly,” I turned and gave my sister a look that said shut up. She nodded and Bear fell silent, closing his eyes and smiling as he wrapped his tiny hand around my sisters.

We drove the rest of the way in silence, and got there too soon. I didn’t want to say goodbye… I hated it. I wanted to stay with Jason more than anything… but I knew how important to everyone it was that Neche and I maintain our normality and the guys to do their thing without distraction. We walked into the airport and finally had to say our goodbyes. As hard as it was for me, it was a lot harder on Bear.
“But-but Daddy!” he looked up at Matt, “I don’t want you to go!”
Matt knelt down next to him, “I know little man, but I need you to take care of Mommy for me, okay?”
Bear rubbed his eyes, sniffled and nodded, “I-I’ll miss you Daddy.”
“I’ll miss you too Bear, I love you.”
“I love you too!”
Matt picked him up and went to kiss my sisters before they all hugged. I felt like crying enough as it was, so seeing that sent me over the edge. Jason pulled me tight against him and kissed me passionately.
“Have you ever thought about us having a baby?” he whispered. I looked up at him startled. That wasn’t something I expected to hear.
“Jase… I…”
“Shh, just think about it. We can talk about it more when I get back.”
I nodded and kissed him again. What we wouldn’t know until much later, there was paparazzi capturing our families private moment and noticing how Bear really didn’t look like Matt… at all.