Infinite

"Thanks Gina. You're a lifesaver," I sighed as I walked Frida down the stairs of Ronnie's apartment building, "You're doing us both a big favor."

Gina stood at the bottom of the stairs, near the front entrance of the building. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "It's not too much of an inconvenience," she replied, patting Frida's shoulder, "It's only a small detour from the way I was headed."

Frida ignored the words of our busy step-mother and pushed past her towards the sleek looking silver car that sat in the parking lot right outside the door.

"You're welcome, Frida," I called after her, "I'll make sure to pass your thanks along to Ronnie."

Frida waved her hand over her shoulder and pushed open the two glass doors. The doors swung closed behind her and showed me the image of the girl climbing into the small car and slamming the light door closed.

"What's the matter with Frida?" Gina questioned, frowning as she stared at the same image as me.

"Just feeling a little ignored," I replied, wondering if she'd pick up on my point, "You're busy, so try dropping her at home alone and see if that helps."

Gina nodded slowly. She shifted her bag on her shoulder and tucked her hair back. "You're still bringing Nico home tomorrow, right?" she asked, looking up the stairs in the direction which we'd come down.

"Yes," I said slowly, "She's upstairs with Ronnie. I didn't bring her down because I didn't want to upset her. But I'll bring her to the house tomorrow around two. We're having lunch with the band around noon." I licked over my lips and glanced in the direction of Ronnie's flat. "Do you want me to bring her down for a minute? She hasn't seen you yet today."

Gina frowned and pulled her gaze from the stairs. "Actually, Atticus," she replied, "I was wondering if you could hold onto her for another day. I have a conference tomorrow and it's going to run late. I don't know if I'll even be home before nine and obviously she can't be home alone." She fiddled with her bag again.

I stood surprised. "Nico really misses you, Gina. She's going to want to sleep in her own bed, in her own house. I'm her sister and I love her, but I can't spend all my time with her. She needs to be with you her mom. Between time spent at daycare and time with Ronnie and I, she never sees you." I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at the woman who was only a couple of inches taller than myself.

Her frown deepened and she tucked her hands into the large pockets of her jacket. "Well, I don't know what to tell you, Atticus. If you can't watch her then call your father tomorrow and have him come get her because I have to work."

"He never answers his phone, Gina. And I have plans after lunch tomorrow. I'm going to visit Arch," I retorted, growing more and more frustrated with her. "You're her mother, you pick her up tomorrow or I'm not doing any favors for anyone anymore."

Gina sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Atticus, be reasonable," she demanded, "Nico Moon loves spending time with you."

"I promise, she loves being with her mom even more."

Gina shook her head. "Well, then just go get her and bring her to me. I'll take her home and she can stay with Frida tomorrow. The girl is old enough to babysit for one day."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, Gina. You can push her off on someone else for another day." I turned and headed to the stairs. As I climbed the first couple of steps, I turned and looked back at her, shaking my head. "If you didn't want a child in the first place, you shouldn't have had one."

"Atticus, you shouldn't speak like that to me. You're an adult now, but you're still just a child. You have no idea what it's like to balance a big family with a career," she stated, upset.

"I know enough, Gina. I know not to have a child if I'd never have any time for her." I climbed the stairs and went down the hallway to the apartment door. I pushed it open roughly and growled as it slammed against the wall.

Ronnie looked over from the couch. "What's wrong?" he questioned, standing up and setting Nico in his place since she'd been on his lap.

"Nico is going home with Frida and Gina," I replied, moving to gather the little girl's things from the far corner of the room next to where Frida had left her own bag earlier in the day.

Ronnie frowned and lifted Nico up. "Moon's leaving?" he questioned, cradling her in his tattooed arms, "How come?"

"Gina doesn't have time for her tomorrow so I'm sending her home now so that they can have at least five minutes together on the car ride back to Pasadena." I shoved all her toys back into bag and zipped it up. I slipped the straps onto my shoulders and held my arms out for the dark headed child. "Come on, Nico," I cooed, "Time to go spend some time with mama."

Nico grinned and held her arms out to me quickly. The little girl had rarely heard the words 'with' and 'mama' in the same sentence and was easily excited by the thought of getting to spend some time with the woman who had promised to love her forever. That didn't mean that Gina didn't love her youngest child, but it just meant that the woman should've taken the hint she received when her first marriage failed because of this very reason.

Gina was married once before. To a man who worked eight to ten hours a day but who was always home in time for dinner with his young son and wife. But when Gina started putting in extra hours in the office at Epitaph, she started spending less and less time with her six year old son. Within a year the boy's dad filed for divorce and custody. Gina gave in easily, not really feeling like it was the right time for her to take on work and a child all by herself.

I heard a few years ago that the boy, whose name was Ian, had died in a car accident in the dead of winter, shortly after getting his license at the age of sixteen. Gina mourned the loss of her only child, even though she hadn't seen him in years, after a call from the man she hadn't spoken to since the day he walked away with their child in his arms. The man, Daniel Davis, had never remarried or had anymore children. He had committed his life to raising the one boy who was supposed to carry on the Davis name.

Gina hadn't spoken to him after that one, short conversation that told her that her estranged son had died. She didn't cry or show any remorse for not being there, and a couple days later I over-heard her tell my father that she'd never felt like much of a mother to the child she'd given birth to sixteen years earlier.

It was that conversation that sparked the emotions in them both that caused them to try again. Gina wanted to try to be a mother again, a real one. But three years later she was struggling to do even that. But this time she wouldn't be getting a divorce seeing as the man she married was struggling with the same problem. They had no time for a young child and barely any time for the three that were almost fully grown.

Ronnie didn't slide Nico into my arms. Instead, he tightened his grip around her and nodded for me to lead the way to Gina, who still stood at the bottom of the stairs, this time with her step-daughter at her side as the sixteen year old grew impatient and begged to be taken home.

"Here's Mama," I cooed to Nico as Ronnie transferred the girl into her arms.

Nico grinned widely and wrapped her little arms around her mom's neck. Gina smiled and kissed the girl's round cheek. "Hey, Nico Moon," Gina comforted, "Are you ready to go home? Maybe spend a little time with Frida?"

Nico frowned and shook her head. She was a smart child who chose hand motions and gestures over words. "No," she said finally when she realized that she'd be going home to sit with Frida. "Mama."

Gina frowned and tried not to give me a knowing look. "Nico Moon, Mommy has to work tonight and tomorrow. So you're going to hang out with Frida. I'm sure you two will have fun together." Gina sighed as big tears started welling in the green-tinted Gurewitz' eyes that sat in her daughter's skull.

"Atti," Nico cried, turning around in her mom's arms to reach out towards me.

I sighed and took a step back from the crying child, knowing that I couldn't watch her tomorrow because of the plans I had and the deal I made with Arch's foster parents later on in the day.

"I'll see you in a couple of days, Nico," I said softly, stopping myself from rubbing the small child's back.

Nico turned to Ronnie and said his name slurred around the tears that were soaking into her cheeks.

Ronnie shook his head and grabbed my hand, feeling heartache for the child who wanted to come with us instead of going home and being left with Frida. "We'll see you in a couple day, Nic," I promised as Gina headed out of the building with a crying child in her arms and a teenager upset and rolling her eyes behind her back.

Ronnie and I climbed up the stairs slowly and headed to the bedroom hand in hand to watch a movie on the flat screen that we'd recently had mounted on the wall above the nine-drawer dresser. Ronnie climbed onto the bed and I followed, resting my head on his shoulder with his arm wrapped around me as I thought about the life that had changed drastically from the time I was a child.

Seeing my parents with Nico was like a repeat of my own childhood. My father had tried to make time for us. Since he was a single parent by the time Max and Frida were born, he didn't have much help with us. We stayed with him on tour for what felt like years, carted in and out of venues, sleeping curled up together in our bunk. When it became too hard to have three big kids instead of three little ones, he shipped us back to a new house in LA, to private schools and nannies. But now, with Gina as his other half and kids old enough to act as babysitters, he seemed to think that the rest of us would pick up the slack.

"Are you alright, Atti?" Ronnie questioned, tracing patterns on my arm with his fingers, "I know you hate to see your sisters upset."

I nodded against him. "I'm fine," I replied softly. I turned around and pulled my arms up and rested them on Ronnie's chest. I was about eye level with him as I laid my cheek on my arms. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?" he asked, reaching up to tangle his fingers around a few strands of my hair.

"Everything," I answered, my thoughts moving onto the entire night spent with my sister. "All the talk about marriage and kids that had been brought up recently," I added.

"Our marriage and our kids?" Ronnie corrected, pressing his palm against the back of my head as he leaned in for a kiss. Our noses touched as Ronnie pushed his lips against mine. I scooted up on his chest and pressed my hands against his neck, moving to the same rhythm as him as he parted his lips.

Ronnie chuckled and shook his head as I took control of the kiss. He rested his head against the pillow, pulling away from me, and looking at me.

I bit my lip and kissed him softly once more. Ronnie slid my hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. I leaned into his hand and licked my lips. "I love you," I spoke, articulating every word.

Ronnie frowned. "You say that like you're never going to say it again."

I shook my head and laid my head in the crook of his neck. I wrapped my arms around his torso and held on tightly, unsure of the words that were coming to mind. "Do I have to say it ever again for you to know that it's true?"

Ronnie shook his head. "I love you, Atticus." He patted my back and then lightly pushed me off of him so that he could slide out from under me.

"What are you doing?" I complained, grabbing onto a bunch of his shirt and trying to hold him down as he climbed off of the blankets.

"Let go of me, Att." He jokingly rolled his eyes at my sudden neediness and pushed my fingers off of him.

I sat up with a deep frown. Ronnie walked over to the nine-drawer dresser and started riffling through the drawer that usually contained some of his socks. I scooted up so that I was leaning against the headboard of Ronnie's bed and watched with furrowed eyebrows as he plucked something from the bottom and slid it into the pocket of his jeans before I could see what it was.

"What are you doing?" I questioned, reaching out to lace my fingers through his belt loops so that I could pull him against the bed and closer to me.

Ronnie grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Don't worry about it," he demanded. "It's a surprise."

"When will I be getting this surprise?" I questioned, trying to slip my fingers into his pocket as I looked away from his smile since it was causing my stomach to flutter and my attention to divert from whatever he'd slipped into his pocket.

Ronnie chuckled and grabbed my wrists to stop my fingers from slithering into the pocket of his tight-fitting jeans. "In a little while," he promised, grinning at me. He climbed back onto the bed and sat down with his knees parted. I smiled and moved closer so that I could sit between his legs and wrap my own around his hips.

"What are you hiding?" I asked softly as I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around his neck, my elbows resting on his shoulders. I narrowed my brown eyes at him.

Ronnie smiled and kissed my face. "I'll tell you later," he said in a promising voice. He leaned down and connected his lips to my neck. Ronnie's own hair fell down and tickled my cheeks, causing me to reach up and brush the thick, dark strands away from his face.

"You promise?" I questioned, dipping my chin down to capture his lips.

Ronnie pressed forward against me as he laid me back on the black pillow and covered my body with his. "I promise," he replied breathlessly as I kissed the hollow behind his ear and moved up over his skin until my lips hovered under the pale blue tear drop just under his dark eye.

"Okay," I breathed.

He smiled and closed his eyes, his fingers grasping the edge of my shirt and lifting it over my head, leaving my bare stomach exposed. Ronnie's fingers moved around my hips and up my spine until he felt the clasp that would expose my chest to him.

I reached between us and grabbed the end of his shirt. Ronnie licked his lips and helped me slide it up his back and drop it off the edge of the large bed. Ronnie dropped his weight down on me and pressed our flesh together as I claimed his mouth in another kiss.