Burst Into Flames

~Tony's POV

I pulled Elise closer, kissing her head, "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "I'm just kind of worried."

"Why?"

She fumbled with her hands, "I haven't told Mike. I haven't talked to him for a while, actually."

I sighed, "Don't worry about that, he's less of a dick than I am, thankfully."

She laughed, sitting up and picking Leia up, "That's true."

I felt a small pain go through me, "I'm not that bad, am I?"

She laughed again, looking up from Leia to me, "No, you're not. You've changed a lot, for the better."

I smiled, "You haven't changed one bit."

~*~

"Cheese? You didn't get cheese?" Jaime asked, over reacting.

Vic looked over at him, "No. I got veggie lovers since mostly everyone here is vegiterian, that's it."

Jaime gave him a disappointed look, "I love cheese pizza."

Vic laughed, "Shut up and pick the veggies off."

Arietta laughed, too, holding up a piece for Jaime, "Suck it up."

He pouted, going over to sit in the corner. I ran a hand through my hair, it'd been a long time since we'd had dinner together.

Smiling, I reached for a piece of pizza and went over by Elise, "How's Leia?"

She made a face, trying to shove baby food into Leia's mouth, "I don't know, she's hungry, but she won't eat this."

I laughed, handing her my pizza and taking the baby food out of her hands, "Here."

She smiled, taking a bite, "Thanks."

"No problem." I spooned some food out, making airplane sounds and motions at Leia.

"How are you so good at that?" Elise asked.

I shrugged, feeding her another bite, "I don't know. I've never even been around babies."

She sighed, "It's not fair."

I laughed, turning towards her, "You'll get better."

She laughed, nodding. I turned my attention back to Leia, a smile slowly stretching across my face.

I heard the door open, Mike came in soaked. He looked over at Elise, "Hey- woah. What?"

I ignored him, feeding Leia.

Elise smiled awkwardly, "Hey Mike!"

He cleared his throat, taking off his jacket, "Lise, hey. How are you?" He gave her a side hug, grabbing a slice of pizza.

"Great, actually." She sat back down next to me.

"Tony." Mike nodded, trying to act casual. I could tell he was confused. He looked over at Leia and smiled, "Hello, baby. How're you?" He cooed.

She giggled, spitting food all over herself. I made a face, wiping it up. Mike laughed, not even apologizing.

"How was tour?" Elise asked.

Mike looked over at her, "Me? It was fucking amazing, as always."

She nodded, "Yeah, Tony said it was good."

He laughed, "He spent most of it drunk, so I bet it was the best one yet."

~*~

"I'll come over tomorrow." Vic said, carrying Leia over to her car seat.

Elise nodded, "Okay, you sure you're up for watching her all night?"

He waved a hand, "It's fine. You guys need to sort through some stuff anyway."

I nodded, "Thanks, man."

"Welcome, Tone. Bye, guys!"

We both waved, Elise kissed Leia's head, "Mommy'll see you in the morning."

I smiled, waving again and walked out to the car. I reached down for Elise's hand, lacing my fingers with hers, "That was fun."

She nodded, "I missed hanging out with all the guys, no drama, you know?"

I laughed, "God, yeah. I know."

She giggled, resting her head on the window and yawning, "Mike was surprisingly cool."

"Yeah," I said, "I figured he'd mention it or something, but he was chill about it."

"I'm glad, we all kind of grew up."

I nodded, squeezing her hand.

She smiled and sighed, "I just.. I hate this sometimes."

"What?" I asked.

"This, you guys being in a band. Having to see Mike and you together all the time. I mean, I love you, obviously, but I've got history with Mike. A lot of history, and it's just kind of painful to see him so often."

I rubbed circles into her hand with my thumb. She'd never brought this up, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize.."

"No, it's not that. It's just.. you both mean so much to me, in slightly different ways. Without Mike, I wouldn't have Leia. Without you, I probably wouldn't be here now."

I sighed, my body drained of energy, "Don't talk like that."

She shook her head, "Sorry. I didn't.. I mean-"

I heard a honk, the car swerved. I slammed on the brakes, trying to miss the car in front of us. It didn't work, our cars collided, causing the other car to flip over. It kept skidding, rolling off the side of the road and flipping. I screamed, trying to cover Elise with my body.

I heard a cry. Elise screamed, the car kept going. It kept flipping. I held onto her with all I had, not caring what happened to me, as long as she was okay. I sent a prayer up to God, begging for this to end, for the screeching to be over. I prayed for Elise to make it, and if she didn't then I didn't want to. I prayed that the other driver was okay.

I prayed, squeezing her to my body until I blacked out.