Learning to Fall

"Gerard!"

Miranda was still shrieking off in the distance for Gerard, who was giggling and hiding out next to me.

"Gerard," Miranda said in a firm voice once she finally spotted him.

She didn't look too pleased when she found her husband sitting next to me, side by side on the little entrance to the spacewalk. We have been 'putting our shoes back on' for the past five minutes now.

"What on earth were you doing?"

"Nothing dear," Gerard replied with a smile, after tying up his right shoe. "Frank and I were just taking advantage of the spacewalk. Nobody was using it, so I just figured-"

"The spacewalk is for the children, Gerard. Not you and your friend," she said in an icy tone, giving me a fake looking smile when she mentioned me.

"I can't believe you would do this at our daughter's party! All of the important people from my office are here, and it's time to do the cake and I need your help with setting it up and gathering the children and you're off having a good ol' time while I'm stuck trying to keep everything together!"

In the midst of her rant, I heard Gerard sigh, and looked up at him just in time to see him give me a defeated smile.

Seeing as I'd had a similar conversation with Angelica one too many times to count, I figured it was time for me to get out of their way.

"I'm just gonna go see what the girls are up to," I whispered, giving Gerard a sympathetic smile that told him I felt his pain.

"Thanks Frank, that would be great," Gerard replied back, offering up a smile of his own.

As I walked back towards the house, I couldn't help but feel completely responsible for the trouble Gerard was in.

Even though I was trying to be helpful just now by volunteering to come find the kids, I knew that I didn't make the situation he was in any better. It seemed like my presence alone was enough to make Miranda pissed off at him.

I didn't miss the glare Miranda shot me as I walked away, either.

"Whatever," I mumbled to myself as I closed the sliding door behind me, immediately being thrown into a sea of kids as they fumbled over costumes and tiaras. I scanned the room for any sign of Sophia or Ella, frowning when I didn't see either of them.

Then again, if I were them, I wouldn't want to hang around any of these spoiled kids, either. With that in mind, I headed up the stairs, almost positive that they were playing Barbies in Ella's room.

Sure enough, as I reached the top of the stairs, I noticed a light peeking through at the end of the hallway.

I knocked lightly on the half-opened door, grinning as I realized they were doing exactly as I had expected.

"Hey girls," I said, making my presence known amongst the city of pink and plastic that the girls were playing with.

"Hi, daddy!" Sophia greeted me, waving a Barbie around as Ella did the same.

"Hey Frankie," she said, sticking her Barbie and Ken doll in a pink Corvette as she pushed them over to me. "Want to play with us?"

"Wow, it sure looks like a lot of fun," I replied in my fatherly-persuasive tone, crossing my fingers it would work. "But, don't you want to go play on that merry-go-round, or that awesome Castle spacewalk that you were so excited about?"

Ella frowned in response. "No. Those kids are playing on my merry-go-round, and in my spacewalk, and I don't want to be around them."

I liked how brutally honest she was being. She was a real straight-shooter. I'd have to step up my game in order to convince her to go willingly.

"I see," I said, taking a few steps into the room so we could talk a little bit better. I can tell she had more on her mind.

"So, you're missing out on the merry-go-round and the spacewalk because of those kids?"

"Who said I'm missing out? I'd much rather play up here alone with Sophia, she's the only one I want to play with," Ella said, grinning proudly at her. I felt my heart melt.

"I see your point," I agreed. For only turning five, this little girl was wise beyond her years.

I sat back, and watched as Belle and Cinderella continued to play with Barbie and friends. Ella and Sophia made quite the pair, much like me and Gerard.

I grinned at the thought of Gerard, a warm and fuzzy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach as I recalled everything that had led up to this very moment. We'd only known each other for two weeks, but somehow, I feel like I've known him for much longer. He has grown on me so much, and as I continued to watch the interaction between our two little girls, I can tell the same goes for them as well. I only hoped he felt the same...

As much as I didn't want to interrupt their playtime, I knew I had to. I could just imagine the fit Miranda would have if she knew her little princess was up here all by herself with my little princess.

"Well, I think it's almost time for cake, darling," I said, crouching down on one knee next to Ella. "Don't you want to eat some of that delicious looking cake?"

"Not really," she mumbled, not looking the least bit excited about leaving the sanctuary of her room. My heart really went out for her.

"Well, I have it on good authority that after we sing happy birthday to you, it'll be time for presents," I informed her, finally getting her attention. "I bet you can't wait to tackle those presents, huh?"

"Yeah..." Ella grinned, finally looking excited. As I got up from my spot on the floor, I heard her ask in a quiet yet hopeful voice, "Can't we just sing happy birthday up here?"

"I don't think your mom would appreciate that too much, darling."

I gave her a smile, but it did nothing to save her face from falling. I knelt down next to her again and gave her a kiss on her head.

"Well... look on the bright side, at least you get to open presents after."

"Yeah," she sighed, a tiny grin peeking at the corners of her lips. "Come on, Sophia, let's go get some cake!"

"Okay!"

I held both of my hands out for them to take, and together we walked downstairs chatting excitedly about how much cake we were going to eat.

In the midst of the chatter, I couldn't help but notice how the living room was now considerably empty. I'm guessing everyone had already migrated outside. Whatever the case, I shrugged that thought aside and opened the sliding door that would lead to the rest of the party.

"There's my birthday girl!"

We came face to face with Miranda, who had her arms outstretched towards Ella, with a wide smile on her face. It looked so fake, the smile on Ella's Barbie doll looked more real than the one she was giving.

I simply grabbed Sophia's hand tighter as Ella ran to her mother, and again tried my hardest to pretend that she wasn't shooting me an evil glare.

"Thanks for getting her for me."

I turned to see Gerard standing behind me, a grateful smile on his face. He was rocking Logan back and forth, who was stretched out on his shoulder.

"Oh hey," I greeted him, grinning at Logan, who looked as if he was about to fall asleep any second now. "It's no problem, I was happy to do it. Besides, it looks like you've got your hands full."

"Fank?"

Logan's head sprang up at the sound of my voice, and his arms became immediately outstretched towards me.

"Aww! I think he misses you, Frankie," Gerard cooed, smiling at me as he attempted to hand Logan over to me.

"Gerard."

In the midst of exchanging Logan, we turned to see Miranda, her hands on her hips as she glared at us. "I will take Logan, why don't you make yourself useful, and go light the candles on the cake so we can sing happy birthday."

She took Logan rather forcefully from Gerard, who immediately started to cry. As she attempted to calm him down, Gerard gave me an apologetic smile and whispered, "Maybe later" as he walked over to Ella, who was now sitting in a big chair in front of her huge princess castle cake.

"Sophia! You can come sit here, there's plenty of room next to me!"

Sophia, who was still clutching my hand as if for dear life, immediately looked up at me with a pleading smile, and I gave her one in return. "Go ahead sweetie, have fun."

She began to run towards Ella, and ran smack into Miranda by mistake. I saw the glare she shot at my Sophia, and watched as it turned into an obviously fake smile as she knelt down to look Sophia in the eye.

"Why don't you stand back here with the rest of the kids, okay sweetheart?"

"But mom, I want her up here with me!" Ella shrieked, which made Miranda cringe. Sophia looked back at me, and I could tell in her eyes that she wanted nothing to do with the other kids.

"Sweetie, I think she'll be much more comfortable towards the back with the rest of the kids," Miranda argued to Ella, giving that famously fake smile of hers as she set the still-whimpering Logan down and redirected Sophia towards where she felt she belonged - in the background.

I was officially pissed.

But before I had the chance to intervene, Gerard quickly rescued Sophia from Miranda, by scooping her up and placing her gently in the seat directly next to Ella.

"There you go, darlings," Gerard smiled at each of the girls, to which they expressed their gratitude to him in hugs.

"Thank you, Gee."

"Yeah, thanks daddy."

I watched the whole scene play out with an elated grin on my face. I almost couldn't believe what I had just seen.

Miranda was still fuming, but captured Logan in her arms once again as she announced proudly, without ever skipping a beat, "Okay everyone, gather around! It's time to sing happy birthday to my princess!"

So as Miranda requested, everyone gathered around, and everyone sang happy birthday to Princess Ella. It was an adorable sight, she was really soaking up everyone's attention like a sponge, obviously loving the spotlight that she so rightfully deserved.

She held Sophia's hand the entire time, and after she made her birthday wish, when it came time to blow out her five little candles, she whispered something in her ear. Grinning excitedly, both girls blew out the candles.

"Aww, they are so cute," Mikey said, giving me a nudge. I hadn't even noticed that he had been standing next to me, but still, his comment made me smile.

"Yep, they sure are."

My smile didn't last very long, however.

I figured out that every time Miranda got annoyed, she no longer frowned, or gave evil glares.

Instead, her smile only got wider. More evil, more vindictive looking, as if it meant someone was going to have to pay dearly for whatever it was later. I didn't like it one bit, because I knew that 'someone' was going to have to be Gerard.

"Everyone, the cake will be passed out in just a second, we're just going to take a few pictures first, okay?" Miranda announced, a huge smile on her face as she addressed the now diminishing crowd.

"As if this party wasn't already swanky enough," Gerard whispered, coming up beside me. "Miranda hired an actual freaking photographer to come out and take pictures. At a five-year-old's birthday party. Can you believe it?"

"Actually no, I can't," I said, in actual disbelief. "It seems like such a waste."

"I know, right? I have a digital camera, it works just fine," he rolled his eyes, and gave a playful smile before walking over to talk with Mikey.

I turned to see Miranda leaning down to take pictures with Ella and her cake, and noticed that Miranda was successful with pushing Sophia back in the background.

At least this time, she was on the patio, playing cars with Logan. I sauntered over towards the patio and knelt down next to them, receiving happy smiles from both.

"Having fun, guys?"

"Fank play," Logan requested, as he began to drive his car on my shoulder. Before I could say or do anything else, Miranda came by and snatched Logan up.

"It's time to take pictures, darling!"

I simply returned the fake grin she was giving me and clutched onto Sophia as she latched on to me, seeing as I was easily accessible since I was still ground level with her.

"Are you having fun, pumpkin?" I asked her, to which she smiled brightly at me.

"Yes, daddy. I just wish I could play with Ella."

"Well, let's just wait for them to finish taking pictures then you can go back and play with Ella, okay?"

"Okay," she grinned, and together we watched as the family of four took nice, big family pictures together.

Miranda was placed behind Ella, and Gerard stood next to her holding Logan. It really was a nice looking picture, and for the first time, I now realized where Ella's pale blonde hair and bright blue eyes came from. She was an exact replica of her mother, while Logan was an exact replica of his father. I just hope the only thing Ella got from her mother was her looks.

I grinned as Mikey now replaced Miranda, and took a few pictures with his brother, niece and nephew. I adored how close they seemed, I had already caught a glimmer of that the weekend before when I stayed here, but seeing them together now really showed me how important Mikey is to his brother and his kids.

"Sophia!"

I nearly jumped at the sound of my daughter's name, but was happy to see the smile on her face as she saw Ella beckoning her forward.

She ran quickly toward her friend, and the two began giggling and chatting immediately upon finding each other again.

"They are so awesome," Gerard said as he appeared beside me, watching the pair with a smile on his face.

He took his camera out and stood alongside the photographer, capturing our princesses as they carried on in all of their gorgeous splendor.

"Gerard, it's time to cut the cake," Miranda cut in, coming up next to the photographer. "You can stop taking pictures now, that'll be all for now until presents."

"Sorry honey," Gerard apologized, immediately giving her a smile as he hurried over to go cut the cake.

"Can I have a piece of cake now, daddy? I'm starving!"

"Of course princess," Gerard said, kissing her forehead.

He quickly cut her a piece, and looked around for the plates, which were conveniently located on the opposite side of the table. "Umm..."

"Oh, here," I piped up, grabbing the stack of plates.

I handed him the one off the top, and he placed the piece of cake on it and handed it to Ella. "There you go, sweetie. I'm gonna get one for Sophia next then you can go play, okay?"

"Thanks, daddy!"

He did as he promised, and I was happy to hand him another plate. The girls thanked him and ran off with their plates of delicious looking cake in hand.

"You've been such a big help Frank, thank you so much for coming," Gerard said, once the girls were gone.

"All I did was hand you a plate, Gerard," I laughed, but stopped as soon as I saw the serious look on his face.

"You did much more than that, Frank..."

The sincerity in his words left me speechless. The only thing I could do was offer up a smile, the best one I've given anybody all day, because it wasn't forced, or apologetic, or fake - it was the kind that I always gave whenever I was with Gerard, because he made me smile.

"Gee, I-"

"Gerard. I need to see you in the kitchen," Miranda cut in, suddenly appearing right beside us.

"But, don't you want me to finish cutting the cake?"

"Now."

She turned on her heel and stormed off inside the house, leaving me and Gerard with 'oh shit' looks on our faces.

"I better go see what my darling wife wants," he said, rolling his eyes for the countless time today.

"Mikey, do you think you can finish this for me?"

"Of course, bro," Mikey agreed, taking the knife from where Gerard set it down. "Man, she looked pissed. Is that what I have to look forward to?"

"Oh goodness! I told you it was a bad idea, Mikey," Gerard nodded, then rethought his answer. "However, your fiancée is a sweetheart, so I doubt you'll have to deal with-"

"Gerard!"

"I'm coming!"

As Gerard stormed off inside the house, Mikey shook his head and sighed.

"Miranda's always been a crab, but never like today. I don't know what got into her."

He continued cutting the cake where Gerard took off, and I handed him a plate.

"Yeah," I sighed, a bad feeling settling in my gut. "I wonder..."