So Long and Goodnight...

You landed surprisingly softly. You were expecting to hit the ground hard but instead, you landed safely in someone's arms.

You looked up to see Gerard's face staring down at you.

"Helena," he asked, shocked that your father had just pushed you out of a second story window, even more shocked that he'd actually caught you.
"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," you said shakily.
"Yeah I think so."

"Good," Frank said hurriedly with a note of panic in his voice.
"Because we have to go ...NOW!"

He was right.

Your father was at the back door, shotgun in hand.

Gerard pulled you to your feet and held onto your arm as he ran with you.

All six of you ran together and you didn't stop until you all collapsed, breathless, on Gerard and Mikey's front porch.

You laid there for a long time, silent.

He was out of control.

There was no way you could ever go home now and live to tell about it.

If you ever went back he would kill you.

You were sure of it.

You sighed heavily and sat up.

Everyone else had started to get up too.

Ray stepped in front of you and offered you his hand.

You took it and he pulled you to your feet.

"I'm hungry," Mikey said suddenly from the seat he had taken on the porch swing on the opposite side of the porch.

"Mikey, you're ALWAYS hungry," Gerard said.

"Yeah. It's a gift."

"That's one word for it," Don said, poking his head out of the front door.

Don was Mikey and Gerard's dad.

He was tall and well built with toned muscles and broad shoulders.

He had jet black hair, glowing hazel eyes, and a smile that could light up the darkest of caverns.

He and his son's were the perfect example of a beautiful father-son relationship.

"DADDY," Mikey said, excitedly, jumping up to hug his father.

"Hey, you guys excited about the c-," Don started. But before he could finish, Mikey clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shh," Mikey whispered.
"A certain female here doesn't know what concert we're going to yet,"

"Aww you guys haven't told Ray yet," he said as a smile spread playfully across his face.

Then he looked at Ray and laughed.

"I'm just kiddin'. I know it's Helena. How are ya doin' these days," he asked, turning his attention to you.

You wanted to say something like:
"Oh ya know I've been good. Never better actually. I've found that getting shoved out of second story windows and shot at by your own father can, in fact, be good for you. It's a scientifically proven fact."

But instead, you looked at him and sighed.

"Could be better, I guess."

"Yes. But it could also be worse," he said, a somber note entering his voice.

Don was always optimistic, always looking for the light at the end of the tunnel ...even if there wasn't one.

"You're with the Way family now," He continued.
"And trust me, you don't have to worry about your father for at least two more days. And tomorrow ...you're gonna have fun," he promised, draping an arm around your shoulder.

"I have no doubts," you said, smiling up at him.
"But I still wanna know what concert I'm going to," you said glaring at Gerard.

Gerard smiled at you. "well if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise now, would it?"

You stuck your tongue out at him.

"Can we eat now," Mikey asked, sounding like a starved puppy.

"Yes, Mikey. We can eat now," Don said smiling at his younger son.
"The seven of us can have real food and you can have a bowl of lettuce."

Gerard laughed and gave his dad a high five.

"Ha ha ha," Mikey said sarcastically.
"Very funny. We don't just eat lettuce, ya know."

"We?" Gerard asked, quizzically.
"What, do you have your own empire now?"

"Yes. I'm the leader of the veggie nation. Now bow to me."

Gerard raised his eyebrow at Mikey and there were a few seconds of complete silence before Gerard punched Mikey in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For being a dork."

"Yeah, well than you need one too," Mikey said, smiling as he pounced on Gerard, who had flopped down on the couch.

Gerard pushed Mikey off and he hit the floor kinda hard then Gerard rolled off the couch and he and Mikey started wrestling in the middle of the living room floor.

You and Donna (Gerard and Mikey's mom) were sitting on the opposite couch, watching them.

Frank came up behind the couch, leaned over the back of it, and turned to Donna.

"Hey, aren't you gonna break them up before they kill each other?" he asked.

"Ha," Don, who had settled into his recliner laughed.
"We gave up on that years ago."

"Well in that case," Frank said and plopped down next to you on the couch.

By the time Mikey and Gerard had stopped fighting, and Mikey had lost terribly, they were both laughing so hard that they had tears streaming down their cheeks.

You all ate and then the six of you went up to Gerard's room.

You absolutely loved his room!

It had black walls, and a black carpet that was so soft it felt like you were walking on a cloud.

He had posters everywhere of all his favorite bands, black lights mounted at the tops of the walls, and a huge, extremely comfortable bed.

You swan dived onto Gerard's bed and laid your head down on one of the many fluffy pillows.

Gerard and Frank hooked up the PlayStation 3 and played games while everyone else talked and cheered one of them on.

You tried to stay awake but it was so hard.

You didn't really get much sleep last night and Gerard's bed was so comfortable It was a losing battle.

Despite your efforts, you fell asleep on Gerard's bed, surrounded by your five brothers and just before you lost consciousness you realized that you hadn't felt as safe as you did right now in a long, long time.