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“I’ve got a plan, kid.”

Those five words made Julian more hopeful than she had been for the entirety of her journey. Jimmy had to at least be able to get her to her Dad’s house without a hitch. With a small smile, she urged Jimmy to tell her what he was plotting.

“When we get to L.A., I’m going to take you back to my place. We’ll squat there, and then the next morning I’ll sneak you to Gerard’s-”

“Why wait? Why can’t we go right after we get there-”

“Hell no, that’s suicide, kid,” Jimmy was sitting sideways in his seat, leaning against the window and sprawling his long legs out into the aisle. With her legs hooked over her armrest, Julian leaned backward and away from Jimmy and his ridiculous idea that she no longer wanted to be a part of.

“Just listen. Gerard’s house is being watched by piggies non-fuckin’-stop. Those gossip mags are going absolutely apeshit over this. My house is all clear, and if we hang out there until the pork clears out, we could get you to Gerard’s place, got it?”

“Got it,” Julian grumbled, kicking her legs against the side of her seat sullenly. Jimmy laughed and reached over to punch her in the knee. Instead, he hit her reflex and earned a swift kick to the shoulder. Julian couldn’t help but laugh, earning a pained smile from the assaulted man.

***

With her suitcases in hand, Julian and Jimmy ducked into Jimmy’s car. He instructed her to lay in the back seat with a jacket over her body - it smelled like turpentine and cigarettes, something she scrunched up her nose at. Jimmy gave her a knowing smile when she visibly grimaced at it, and tore off down the streets to his house.

In his garage, Jimmy made sure it was shut tight before helping her out of the car and into his house, “This is my kasa, friend. Hungry?”

“I’m too excited to be hungry,” Julian offered him a smile and he shrugged in response.

“Jimmy. You’re back soon,” In front of them, in the entryway to what was probably Jimmy’s living room, stood a woman that Julian was quite familiar with. The woman offered a half-hug and a thank you to Jimmy, before exchanging a look with him.

“Damn, I know where I’m not wanted. I’m going to go get white-girl wasted in the kitchen,” With Jimmy gone, the woman turned to Julian with a half-hearted smile.

“I’m Lindsey. Can we talk?” She didn’t give Julian a chance to respond, and instead walked back into the living room and chose an armchair. Julian took the couch across from Lindsey, and waited for her to begin the conversation. Lindsey seemed torn on how to approach her topic, and debated with herself for a while before beginning.

“When I first met Gerard and we started talking, he told me about his little angel, his Jules. This little girl he had fathered as a kid himself that he was banished from,” Lindsey’s voice held no readable emotion, and Julian felt a drop in her stomach. Would Lindsey try and keep her from seeing Gerard? Why would Jimmy bring her here if he knew Lindsey would do that? Lindsey seemed to sense Julian’s anxiousness, and gave the girl a smile that was more genuine than any feeling that had been expressed in the one-sided conversation.

“I always resented you, you know. This girl he had barely met was the person he loved the most. This girl that didn’t even take the time to write a single note back to her father, despite his faithful letters. When we had Bandit, I was so scared that someday, he would choose you over her. I was jealous,” Lindsey uncrossed her knees and leaned forward to rest her elbows on them. Her smile returned again, and she laughed as she said her next words.

“Then Gerard calls me up when I’m in New York - he’s hysterical, on the verge of tears. He says that you ran away from home, and the only logical place they can think of you going is to him. I got on a plane that same night and came back here, and he finally broke down and told me everything about you. About your mother controlling your correspondence, about keeping Gerard away from you. All that hate I had for you? It’s respect, now,” Julian watched in awe as Lindsey reached forward to grab her hand with both of her own.

“You ran away from your home, everything you knew, for Gerard. I knew right then that I had to help you somehow, Julian. When I heard on the news that you were in Salt Lake City, I called a couple solids that Jimmy owed me. He went to Vegas and hunted you down, bought the ticket for the bus you’d be on. Got you here so I could help you.”

“Help me…?” Julian trailed off, leaning back into the couch and letting her hand slip from Lindsey’s. The woman nodded once and ran her fingers through her own hair.

“When’s your birthday, Julian?”

“August 27th-”

“So, a week away. When you're 18, the police can't haul you back to your mother, since you’re a big kid.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Julian asked, reaching up to rub the back of her head. Lindsey gestured with an arm around Jimmy’s living room to accentuate her point.

“Jimmy and I are going to hide you here until your birthday.”

“Can I… Can I see my dad?” Julian ventured quietly, and Lindsey’s triumphant smile turned into a sympathetic frown.

“No. At least not yet. If we want this to go off without a hitch - which it’s gonna - then you can’t be in contact with anyone on the outside, other than Jimmy and me,” Julian flopped to the side on the couch with a groan, and Lindsey laughed at her theatrics, “It’s only a week, Julian. A week, and then you’ll have the rest of your life.”

***

“Hey, wake up, you lazy fuck.”

Julian groaned and rolled over on the couch, huddling into the back and clinging to the last remnants of her dream. Suddenly, she jolted back awake as the man behind her kicked her in the ass. Sitting up - painfully! - she looked up at him with an expression of indignation.

“Lindsey’s on her way to see you. She’s got presents.”

“Is it breakfast?”

“No, that’s in the boxes of cereal on the fridge,” he ambled back into the kitchen and Julian grumbled to herself as she migrated off the couch to get ready for the day. Jimmy had kindly allowed her to use his washing machine, and she finally had clean clothing to wear. Settling on a t-shirt displaying her father’s band’s faces and some jeans, she showered and opted to do absolutely nothing with her hair.

When she left the bathroom, she heard voices in the kitchen. Lindsey, no doubt. Making her way into the room, she spotted the familiar woman sitting at the table, and her “caretaker” Jimmy standing by the coffeemaker. All was silent for a moment, before a head peeked out from under the table. Lindsey spoke up after a few seconds of struggling to get the little person out into the open.

“Julian, this is Bandit,” the littler girl - unmistakably a mix of Gerard and Lindsey - slowly spread her mouth into a toothy grin.

“You’re Juz? Dad makes that face too,” Julian stared at the girl with wonder, and Lindsey laughed at Bandit’s comment.

“What face?”

“Yesterday, when Dad broke the sink, he looked funny like Juz does. Like she’s in trooouble,” Bandit then asked if Julian was in trouble, and the girl shook herself from her trance.

“I think I’m in a lot of trouble right now.”

“When I get in trouble, I go to time-out and that fixes everything. C’mon, let’s find you a corner,” Julian let Bandit grab her hand and totter to the corner of the kitchen. Obediently, Julian stood facing the wall and Bandit looked at the clock with a scrutinizing gaze, “A hundred hours.”

“A hundred? That’s a little mean, Bandit. Let Julian out.”

“Okay,” Bandit lost interest in Julian soon after, leaving her to sit at the table with Lindsey.

“I told her if she told anyone we saw you, she wouldn’t be able to watch Star Wars with daddy anymore,” Julian let out a small laugh, and watched as Bandit tried to crawl up Jimmy’s pant legs. The man struggled to hold his pants up, laughing the entire time.

“I’m scared,” Julian blurted, earning an interested look from Lindsey, “What if I’m not what he hoped for?” Julian prayed that Lindsey would connect the dots, and she didn’t disappoint.

“He’s held you close to his heart for almost eighteen years, Julian-”

“Exactly! What if he imagined me as this perfect angel. I’m not that. I smoke, I drink, I’m a delinquent that ran away from home-”

“This is your home, Julian. Where ever Gerard is, that’s where you belong. I know from the moment he held you as a baby, he loved you Julian. That hasn’t changed.”