Without You, I'm Just Me

Not the first or the last, but you're possibly the prettiest

Naomi was just days away from her due date, but nothing was happening. She was going around, walking and taking care of everything. I was worried about her, but she kept telling me to shut up and to calm down, and I did as she said.

If she wasn't concerned, I wasn't either...just not as much as I used to be. So, I did a few promos at radio stations and a few TV interviews with the band. I wasn't too worried about Naomi...not until June 16th, a day before her due date. Me and Andy were doing an interview about our videos, and the female host, Amanda, asked about Naomi; "How is your wife? We've seen her out and about in Hollywood getting cupcakes and having a girls day with her friends; might add she's glowing."

I hummed, fiddling with the headphones on my head, "Navy's cool, she's due any second--"

"And you're here," Andy joked.

"She made me come here!" I retorted. "She hates that I wait on her."

"Aww," Amanda laughed; her co-hosts, that were dudes- all fake gaged. "Shut up! Why does she make you leave?"

"She likes to do everything for herself; that's how she is, I don't blame her."

"Where are your kids?" One of the male co-hosts, Freddy, asked. "Your kids are like grown, man! Last time I ever heard about them they were just born!"

"Lew is hangin' out with her dad, and my baby boy, Benny is at football practice."

"Ooh, a baller?" Amanda laughed.

"He takes after his old man," Andy spoke up. "Pete used to play soccer."

"Benny's better than me," I said quickly, "he's insane, man. He's fast and he's smart. You gotta watch him, he'll trick you."

Before they could ask us anything else, someone knocked on the glass separating us from the hallway. We all looked over and saw Marcus motioning us over. They made jokes until Marcus came in, "We gotta go guys, Naomi's havin' the baby."

I didn't hear a thing after that, I took off the headphones and grabbed my phone, trying to turn it on; but it was dead, so that was the reason why I didn't get a call. I had cursed to myself as Marcus hurried and rushed me, Andy and Jasmine out; there had been fans outside and I waved, apologizing; "Sorry guys, my girls are in the hospital!"

Marcus pushed me and Andy into the van; "Her water broke, Jasmine came and got me. Naomi's already been admitted. No one could get ahold of us, they finally just called Andy's phone and got Jasmine to tell me."

"Charge my phone," I handed Marcus my cell to charge up front. "The boys at home?"

"Uh, I think so," Marcus answered as our drive took off; then looked over at him up front, "we needa get to Cedars."

"Sure thing," the drive said.

"Patrick said he picked up Benjamin from practice and Lew is with Sabrina," Marcus told me, "we'll drop you off and you call us when the baby girl is here."

I smiled and nodded, "Of course, Marcus."

I was suddenly growing nervous when I finally thought about it. I was gonna have a daughter soon; I was gonna be a dad for the 3rd time and it was just hitting me now. The hospital was closing in and Andy patted my shoulder, "Tell Naomi we said good luck."

"Yeah," I exhaled, "thanks guys."

Marcus handed me my phone before I climbed out the van. I waved to them and headed inside, towards the maternity ward. I turned my phone on and it immediately began to ring; it was Naomi; "Navy, baby, I'm here, what floor?"

I heard her scream, but it was distant; "Pete, it's me Lee. Naomi is giving birth as we speak. I'm near the door, they won't let me talk while she's pushing; Amy's with her, so is Rae. We're on the 3rd floor of the east wing, room 287, hurry!"

I ran as fast as I could through the maternity ward, apologizing to women and men I passed. I jetted to the elevator, slamming the worn out button repeatedly until the doors opened. I smashed the 3rd button and kept doing it till the doors closed and the elevator slowly ascended. My stomach was in knots, the elevator took forever to get to the floor, and then the doors opened; I took off and rushed to the nurses station, "Hey, hey, where's room 287?! My wife is giving birth."

The nurse at the station looked at me with a deep frown; "Sir, I can't let you in while your wife is giving birth--"

"I-I-I can't miss it! Please! Her name is Naomi Wentz, just tell me which way to go!"

The nurse sighed and pointed to the right, "But you'll have to--"

I rushed off while she yelled at me, "Sir! Sir!"

I found the room almost immediately and nearly bumped into Lee on the way in. He grabbed me, to keep me from falling and pulled me in. I heard him say something, and then Naomi cry out, "Where the fuck is Pete?!"

"He's here," Rae said joyfully, then gave me this fearful and urgent look.

"I'm right here, Navy," I said quickly, making my way over, "I'm sorry, I didn't know--"

The nurse cut me off by pulling me towards a sink and had me wash my hands. Naomi was grunting and crying, pushing; "She was ready to go a minute ago!"

"Pete's here and she lost her nerve," Rae joked.

I hurried back over and peaked between her legs; the baby's head was near out. I grimaced and went to Naomi's side, "I'm sorry I nearly missed it."

Naomi cried, "I don't want anymore kids!"

I smiled, "Okay, okay, this is our last one."

Naomi continued to push and push until her grip on my hand limped, simultaneously there came the loudest wail I've ever heard. It hurt my ears to hear my baby girl make herself known; "Shit," Naomi muttered.

"Congratulations, Naomi," the doctor said, "your little Susie is here!"

She waved her hand in the air tiredly; a nurse pulled my hand, "You want to cut the umbilical cord?"

I nodded; one nurse had wrapped baby Susie in a white little baby blanket and handed her over to Naomi; "Here is your baby girl, Naomi."

I cut the cord, hearing Amy and Rae coo as the nurse handed Naomi our baby girl. She was still crying and wailing; "She looks like you, Navy," I murmured as I looked over at her.

"Thank God," she told me softly; her voice was slightly hoarse.

I laughed to myself, looking at Susie while the nurses cleaned up and the doctor was checking Naomi out. My stomach was still in knots, I wasn't sure why, I was more than excited that Susie was finally here.

"I'm sorry I almost missed everything," I muttered.

Naomi held the baby, who was whimpering and frowning, Naomi kept her eyes on the baby instead of me, "It's okay, Pete. She's so cute. Hold her."

I bit at my lip and slowly took Susie into my arms; she wailed once at me, but continued to whimper once I held her. I got a good look at her; her hair was black and shiny, her cheeks were puffy and pink, her lips pouted and plump like Naomi's. I brought my hand up to touch her little nose and cheeks; she's definitely the prettiest girl I've ever seen in my life, and I'm absolutely in love with her.

I was lost in how gorgeous she is, I didn't pay attention to anyone else around me. I kissed Susie's forehead and traced her features with my finger until she opened her eyes. They were light brown and full of tears; her bottom lip quivered as she looked up at me, but she didn't burst out into tears like I expected her to, she just let the tears roll and whimpered tiredly.

"Hey there baby girl," I said to her, tracing my finger over her nose, "I'm your daddy."

Susie whined and shut her eyes; I kissed the tip of her nose and looked up; Amy had tears in her eyes, "You look so cute holding her, Pete."

"You guys can hold her now," I said sheepishly.

Amy smiled and happily took Susie from me; I looked over and saw Naomi was asleep. I chuckled to myself; Lee and Rae taking pictures, and then got wrapped up in looking at the baby with Amy. I went over to Naomi, kissed her forehead and brushed her hair away from her face; she blinked a few times, "I'm so tired."

"It's okay, you can sleep."

She rubbed her eyes, "How cute is she?"

I smiled, "She's the prettiest girl on earth."

•••

Susana Dahlia Wentz became the shiniest and brightest star in our house. She was definitely the loudest and the favorite. Benji became obsessed with wanting to protect her; we even caught him sleeping on the floor beside her crib. Lee moved a small mattress in her room at bedtime so Benji could sleep in there with her. Benji was always the one to tell us when she was hungry and when she was wet; she never needed to cry because Benji was right there to notice if something was wrong with our baby girl.

When I left on tour, Naomi would send me pictures of them napping together. Everyone was so happy to have her there, it was like our lives got brighter when she was born. And then Rae had her daughter in August, and it was like our place got fuller and brighter. They named her Scarlett Ellie, and Benji was happy to have her around too; the kid loves babies, and he always told me he hated to go to practice or school, because he missed them so much. He then said, "But when mommy picks me up, it's like I get two presents cuz I get to play and talk to them when I get home."

Lewy was happy to be a big brother, and to have little cousins, too, he was just a lot quieter. He's more of an observer than an participator; Lew was never the one to make a big splash around the house, but you always knew when he was around. He reads and writes a lot, he acts more like an adult than I ever expected him to. He was definitely more mature and was able to watch himself and was smart enough to take care of things on his own. Naomi told me she could trust Lew and Jasmine alone on their own; Jasmine helped Lew grow up a lot and taught him a lot of things.

When I got home, I spent most of my days napping with the kids. I slept a lot with Susie on my chest and Benji at my side; Naomi and Lew would join us sometimes, but it was mostly just me, little Sue and Benny. Naomi took a lot of pictures of me sleeping in various places with then; Susie could sleep through anything, we were grateful for that.

She is such a funny little baby; she picks up on things quick, she knows when I'm home we're going to eat and nap. She tries to kiss my cheek like Naomi does, and she'll wake up, look around, yawn and then fall back asleep on my chest. Susie makes everything so much better when I see or hear her; I had to go overseas and the distance had gotten to me, but when Naomi FaceTimed with me and I heard Susie's coos and saw her waves, I felt a million times better. I did miss her, but seeing her and hearing her made it bearable. Seeing Benji and Lew made it easier too, but there was something about little Susie that just jolted me back into the best mood.


Me and the guys were scheduled to perform at the Victoria Secret Fashion Show at the end of November. We got lucky with that, we had an angel put in a good word for us and we were asked to perform. Naomi was back in shape and gushed about us being together on stage. We did interviews together, everyone was in awe of how quickly her body got back into shape. Naomi didn't say much but chasing after Benji was what helped.

On the night we were to perform, we got dressed and kissed the kids goodbye before heading out. Thankfully my mom, dad, Hilary and her husband and son all came to visit for Thanksgiving, so they offered to watch the kids; even Scarlett while we took Rae and Ricky with us. We got there, Naomi's manager Mia took Rae and Ricky to their seats, then Naomi had to go backstage and get ready while me, Patrick, Andy and Joe walked the "pink" carpet and did a few interviews. Then, we were ushered inside to get changed; I didn't get to see Naomi until show time. By this time, we had been making chit chat with the other models and the other band performing, and Taylor Swift, who Patrick had a little crush on, but Sabrina quickly snubbed that out.

In our dressing room, I messed with my hair, checked in on the boys, then I messed around on twitter. I was gonna take a selfie, aiming my phone up and saw big black hair with like strobe lights popping from it and these crazy insane black heels. I jumped and then I grinned when I saw it was none other than Naomi; she looked absolutely beautiful, like the true model she is.

"Hey there Sid Vicious, have you seen Pete Wentz 'round here?" She teased, putting her arm around my shoulders.

I looked up at her, "No, sorry. Who are you and why are you looking for that asshole?"

"I'm his wife, I was hoping to catch him before he went on, can you help me?"

I turned and faced her, "Fuck, Navy, how tall are those heels?"

She smiled, "5 inches. I'm in love with them, I told the stylist I was keeping 'em."

"I can't even kiss you."

She lent down and kissed my lips, "Happy?"

"Not really."

Naomi was gonna retort when they called out for 5 minute curtain call. She kissed me again, "Wanna take one photo before we go out there?"

We turned towards the mirror and posed obnoxiously for it. I tweeted it, feeling my stomach flutter; Model Behavior.

Before Naomi had gone, I kissed the underside of her jaw and rubbed her back, noticing her lingerie; it was skimpy, bright white with a matching corset. I recorded her walking away from me; her hips swayed and her steps were that like she owned the fucking ground we were all walking on. Right as I was handed my bass, I posted it; Without you, I'm just me.
♠ ♠ ♠
So sad it's over, but there's a sequel! It's focusing more on Lewy, there's gonna be a lot of surprises in store. I think it'll be a lot short than these chapters are, I hope you guys enjoy it!
Okay, I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was hard writing it because I didn't want it to end. I've been fussing and messing with this story for almost 4 years now! Holy smokes, that's a long friggin' time! My story is a toddler!

Enough of the rambling, I have to get to work. I now leave you with the last shameless plug of this story :')

The Boy With the Thorn In His Side (sequel obviously)
Borrowed Time
Baby, You're a Classic
the Car Crash Hearts
The Faded Moons
Falling
Believers Never Die
Twelve Days
The Mighty Fall
The Chase
Lets Be Alone Together

Thank you guys again, you're the best!!
xxalison santi