The Party Scene Has Got the Best of Me

ERIN'S POV

No...it couldn't be. But it was. "Who gave you this number?" I asked my mother stonily. Alex's grip on me was the only thing keeping me sane.

She laughed. A cold, icy thing that lacked any emotion. "Why, your friends sweetie, though in surprised anyone wanted to be friends with someone as annoying as you." I shivered at the use of the word sweetie and gripped Alex's hand ad tight as possible.

"Why? Why would they give you my number?"

"Well I decided to check in at your grandparents house to see how much we could sell it for, when I find three couples living there. Apparently your dads parents went behind our backs and left you the house in the will, so I can't sell it. Your friends thought it was a shame you hadn't kept in contact with your poor mother so they brought me all up to date...and I hear you're living in America with a VERY rich, VERY famous mr Alex Gaskarth-"

"So you want money? Is that it? Now I'm good enough?" I laughed bitterly.

"Oh no, you'll never be good enough. But I think you owe me for those years you were growing up and I was stuck with you."

I was boiling with rage and trying not to let it get too much because of the baby. "You're supposed to be my fucking mother!!! You should have WANTED to look after me! Leave me the fuck alone! I don't want you in my life!" I yelled into the phone, crying. I threw the phone to the floor and forced myself away from Alex, then ran into the kitchen, opened the draw, found a knife, and brought it to my skin.

I was crying and shaking too much. I really didn't want to do this, but I had to. I had to see it. I had to see it there. Another scar my mother had made. But I just couldn't do it. Alex came in and just looked at me in shock. When he realised I wasn't going to do anything, he took the knife from me and let me collapse against him, his soothing hands stroking my back and hair as I cried uncontrollably into his shirt.

"I couldn't do it. I needed to, but I couldn't. I couldn't do it." I cried and sobbed ern more and he jut held me. Letting me know he was there.

Alex waited a while before saying "good. That means you're better. You can get through this. Because you have me. If she calls again, give me the phone. She won't know where we are, I never gave you my address so you never told your friends. We're safe." He pulled back to look into my eyes and cupped my face in his strong capable hands. "You hear me? We're safe, got it?" I nodded my head. "Good," he said smiling and brushing my hair away from my eyes. "All this stress isn't good for the baby."

And as Alex said that, as if on cue, I felt a stabbing pain in my stomach. I cried from pain this time and crouched to the floor, clutching my stomach. Alex immediately dropped down to the floor with me and tried to find a safe place to put his hands and comfort me. They ended up on my arms. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"The baby," I managed to gasp. "Something's wrong with the baby."

The next thing I knew I was being out into Alex's car and we were on our way to the hospital. They settled me on a bed and the doctors did their magic, an eventually the pain subsided.

Alex held my hand the whole time.

He went to have a word with the doctor and then he came back. "The doctor went off to fill out some forms for you. They gotta sort all your details out and actually assign you a doctor seen as your new. We should probably sort a visa for you too. I mean, I'm the American citizen that can vouch for you, so that's all fine. How are you feeling?"

"Better..." I said, trying to hold back the tears. But I knew I had to ask. "What...what about the...the baby." I decided to be brave and look straight at him. Alex smiled, and it was a genuine happy smile, so I could let out the breath I'd been holding in.

"It's fine, just a scare, but he did say you have to rest for a while. A week, and then don't do anything that could lead to stress, so no answering the phone anymore, got it?" I had to laugh at his stern face, which turned into a scowl when he saw me laugh. "I'm being serious okay? Don't do anything that'll raise your blood pressure or heartbeat or anything. Seriously. I don't want to go through something like that again."

This time he hung his head and I felt drips of a few tears on my hand that he was still holding. That kind of shocked me, to see that he cared that much. I lifted his chin up with my free hand, and sure enough, he was crying a little. "Hey, I promise, okay? I don't want that to happen again either."

He gave me a small smile. "Good, because I don't want to see you in this hospital unless you're actually supposed to be here because of an appointment or whatever." Alex leaned over to press his lips to my forehead, and tingles went all down my spine.

Then we heard loud noises and in burst Rian, Zack and Jack. Just being their crazy selves. "Hey!" Alex shouted at them, which kinda caught me off guard
"Aww, my husbands rejected me Rian!" Jack cried, burying his face in Rian's chest. "He doesn't love me any more! He shouted at me!"

I giggled while Rian patted his back and Alex rolled his eyes. "Oh Jackypoo it's not that he doesn't love you, it's that you're too good for him. He can't handle your awesomeness, Zack soothed.

"You're right! Jack concluded, lifting his head. "Alex we are over, I can do so much better." Then he jumped onto Zack's back and planted a huge kiss on his cheek, right before licking it.

...that was disgusting. You could tell by Zack's face, he thought so too. Alex finally spoke up. "Actually, it's because I JUST finished telling Erin not to go pushing herself and to relax, and here you guys come, shouting your heads off without a care in the world! Why'd you think we're in this hospital? The stress isn't good for her, and what isn't good for her isn't good for the baby!"

The guys just stared at him, not quite knowing what to say. "Alex, calm down. We didn't think it would matter, she sees us like this all the time," Rian said, trying to defuse the situation.

"No I will not fucking calm down! She could have lost the baby! OUR baby! I never wanna go through something like that again! You don't know how it feels! It fucking hurts! Knowing that in a matter of minutes your child could be gone! And I would have never gotten to see it's face! So forgive me for trying to look out for Erin AND the baby!!!"

Wow. I don't think I'd ever seen Alex so emotional about something. Well to be fair I had only known him just over a month, and you only get a little snippet from what you see on tv or in interviews and photos or whatever, but still. And by the looks on the guys faces, they'd never seen him anything like this before either.

"Okay dude, we're sorry. We didn't realise," Jack said, switching instantly from childish, goof around Jack to I'm 24 and an adult Jack.

Alex nodded and almost collapsed back into his seat, rubbing the tears away from his eyes. I couldn't get over how much he seemed to care. The rest of them took their places around the bed and we had a little laugh and the guys goofed around, but not like they usually did. I guessed they were still wary of the silent Alex, sat right next to me, barely breathing.

ALEX'S POV

The next day she was discharged and I helped her out of he hospital and into the car. I really didn't want to feel what I felt yesterday, terrified for her and our child. I stayed over at the hospital when everyone else went home. I wasn't leaving her side. I only had two weeks here with her before we went on your again, and I couldn't bare to leave her after what had happened. She kept telling me to go home and sleep on a comfy bed, so in the end I just got off the chair and slept in the hospital bed with her. Erin really didn't understand how much that had shocked me. It just made me even more protective of her. She woke up in the middle of the night, and told me not to worry, that the guys didn't mean to upset me. I knew she was right, and I felt bad for blowing up at them, but they'd get over it. I had to worry about Erin, because I don't think she had anyone to worry about her.

I couldn't believe her mother. I'm sorry, but what kind of a mom is that? Who seriously says that their child isn't good enough? I heard the whole conversation. How fucking dare she. She had no right to talk to Erin that way. The bitch. I meant what I said, if there was a next time, and I really hoped their wasn't, I would deal with her. I'll make sure she never hurts Erin again. I promised Erin that when she was asleep in the hospital. I couldn't bare to see her in pain.

When we got back, I made sure the couch was comfy enough. I didn't want her walking upstairs and such for bed when she'd been told complete rest. Apparently a little walk in the garden was allowed, which was good news for Erin because I wouldn't be letting her walk to the shops. She'd probably think that I was being over protective, and to be fair, I probably was. But I didn't care.

Once I'd decided it was good enough, I eased her onto the couch and pulled a quilt over her.

"Alex, you don't have to go to all this fuss!" she giggled. Damnit. Why couldn't the girl just accept help?

"Look, he told you comets and utter rest this morning, right?" I waited for her to nod. "Right, so while I'm here, I'm gonna make sure you get that. Don't worry, when I leave for your you can go crazy wild and even go do the shopping," I said with a smile and tapped her nose.

"Alex," she said, rolling her eyes, "I will actually need to get a job to go and buy the shopping."

I shook my head. "No you won't. I opened a bank account for you. Well, I say I opened one, I just got you a card for mine, so we have a joint account." Her eyes popped out of her head.

"Alex! No! I told you, I'd pay my way! I don't wanna see how much you earn! It's private for you!" Her voice was rising and she started to sit up. I gently pushed her down.

"Look, it's okay, don't worry about it. I don't mind you seeing how much I earn. I don't care. You can get a job AFTER you've had the baby of you really want to. And I don't want any arguments. No stress, remember?" I rubbed her stomach as a reminder. Erin sighed and nodded. "Okay. Now, I'm gonna go fix us lunch...or we could order pizza again, but didn't steal mine, okay?"

Erin laughed and said,"pizza, yes, but I can't promise I won't steal any!"

I grinned. "Well, I guess I can't really argue, you are pregnant after all."

"Yup, and no stress, which means you really can't argue with me," Erin winked.

I sighed and chuckled softly as I went to order our pizza. We ended up eating it in the garden. It was actually a really nice day.

"Hey, Alex?" she asked, breaking our companionable silence.

"Yeah?" It came out kinda muffled because I was still chewing at that time.

"What are we gonna do for dinner now we've had pizza for lunch?"

Good question. "How about I cook for you?"

She almost choked on her pizza. Did I say something wrong? "You? Cook for me?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure, why not? I've never cooked for you before so I may as well try and let you know I don't burn the house down when I cook."

Erin laughed. Was my cooking that amusing? "Alex...I'm scared of you cooking. I haven't done enough youtubing to see if you can cook without blowing up the oven or whatever."

Damn girl, harsh. And kinda stalkerish...well it wasn't her fault she was a fan...well, then again...but anyway, I'm glad she was a fan or we would never have met. "Look, I'm gonna cook for you, and you will love it, clear?"

"As crystal" she smiled. And guess what? Later that night I made dinner. And she loved it. Yes, okay, I made her lettuce and chocolate spread. But I did cook! I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich...with salad. Yeah okay that wasn't really a proper cooking thing. I'd just have to cook properly another night.

After a walk in the garden, because Erin wanted some fresh air, we sat on the couch and I got my guitar out. I thought it might be nice to give her a free acoustic set, she'd mentioned once that she preferred the acoustic versions of the songs.

I had to turn poppin champagne into an acoustic and she kept laughing at me because she didn't think I'd be able to do it. Of course I did, especially as Erin wanted to hear it as an acoustic, because after actors, it was her favourite song. When I finished my little set, I put my guitar down and she clapped, giddily happy.

"Awesome! Thank you so much Alex! I know how many fans would just DIE to hear that! But I gotta say, woulda been better with the whole band," Erin winked.

I acted fake hurt, and gasped loudly. "Are you saying I'm not good enough? Are you saying I'm not worthy? YOU DON'T LOVE ME ANY MORE!" I heard Erin laugh and she got off the sofa and she sat next to me and put her arms around me.

"Aww baby I still love you, your songs just sound better when it's the whole band. But you and your acoustic are still amazing and pretty much perfection in a song. Don't cry baby," she said, trying not to laugh.

I looked up, then dramatically turned away from her. "I just don know if I can forgive you," I sighed, as if I was wiping away a tear.

Erin giggled then pulled my face back to her. "Aww please? I promise I won't complain when you put on the sports channel!"

"Hmm...okay then! Hey, let's watch some tv!" Erin let another laugh escape as I pulled her up and we cuddled. It didn't really matter what I was watching because she was asleep as soon as anyway.

Another night together on the couch. I promised myself I wouldn't let the next two weeks be wasted. Maybe she wasn't quite ready to forget we were friends right now, but when we come back from off our next tour, I hope she's ready. I sighed as she snuggled closer in her sleep, and I let myself drift off to a world where we were more than friends.