Let Me Be the One

"It's a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen, one bathroom and a balcony." The realtor, Adam, grinned falsely as he showed us into the apartment. It had green carpet, green walls and green doors. Even though they were different shades of green, the amount still made me want to projectile vomit off a cliff.

"It seems kind of small, doesn't it?" I questioned as I looked in the 'master' bedroom. I wasn't really picky for size but if we're going to be starting a family, I don't want to be in a cramped apartment.

"Many people agree that it's cozy, actually." Adam's smile faltered when he realized that this would be once again, the wrong place for us.

I've got to give it to Frank and I, we were probably the most stubborn, indecisive and annoying people when it comes to house hunting. So far, we've been to nearly ten houses and apartments and we've found a flaw with all of them.

We came pretty close to getting one, until I stepped on a nail that is. Apparently the house was built many years ago by clearly inexperienced carpenters. Nails and staples were sticking out of the floor boards, not to mention that the laundry machine that they were 'nice' enough to give us with the house, had a frayed wire. We may as well have just killed our kid right now, because that house would do it for is.

"This isn't the right place, I'm guessing?" Adam sighed and we gave him the same sorry smile we've been giving him since we started looking for places, five hours ago.

We stayed at Gerard's place last night, with his wife, Lyn-Z and his seven month old baby, Bandit. I want to name our kid something cool like Bandit!

Maybe Thief, then they can be Bandit and Thief! How awesome would that be?

Okay, you're right, it was a stupid idea...

"I have one more place to show you before I think we call it a day. I usually only show people a few houses before we call it quits." Adam said and I nodded. I wasn't really tired, because I've been in a wheelchair all day with a big tub of yogurt and granola. I finished that hours ago and was kind of hoping to get something else.

"Alright, we should probably be getting back ho- to Gerard's anyway." Frank added. I knew that he was really going to say home and my heart ached as well when it hit me for the millionth time that there wasn't going to be a home if we didn't just choose a place.

I kind of felt like I should say something really cheesy, like 'home is wherever we are. As a family' or something like that but all those sayings seemed a little stupid to me so I just nodded.

"Can we stop by the pet store before we go?" I asked Frank, "Ray has been feeding Snugs, table scraps because he doesn't have food."

We started walking to the car as talked. Or in my case, got wheeled along by Frank.

As you can probably guess, Ray was taking care of our dog. Gerard didn't want Snugs keeping Bandit up in the middle of the night with his barking so Ray offered to take him. It was good for him too, because Therese loves Snugs and stops by almost every day now.

"Sure." Frank shrugged, "Once we're done with the last house." pause, "We should get another dog."

"Sure," I teased, "Once I give birth and we have an actual house."

With Franks help, I got out of the wheelchair and limped over to the car door, carefully opening it and sliding in. I watched in amusement as Frank just crammed as much of it as he could fit in the truck before walking over to the drivers side.

"It fits." he said before I could bug him about it.

"Sure it does." I giggled and shook my head. My hair bounced around in its natural wavy form. Since I couldn't exactly use my hands very well, I just had to leave it as it was supposed to be instead of straightening it or curling it.

Adams car pulled out of the driveway and we followed close behind. I pulled out the sheet of paper that had all the addresses we would be looking at, on it. There were still about five other places we would be looking at but those would be for another day.

"I hope this is the one." I sighed after I read out Adams chicken scrawl to Frank. "I'm tired of looking."

"It'll be worth it." Frank assured me. His right hand grabbed my left one and he squeezed lightly.

The other house actually wasn't that far away from the other one, and it was pretty close to the other band members homes.

The house was a two story, brick house with dead grass, wilted flowers and the bushes in the front yard were dead as well. Creepy...

Adam exited his car and took out the keys, having to jiggle the lock a bit before it finally opened with a long creak.

The floors were brick and stone on the entire first floor, everywhere other than the bathroom which was tile and the kitchen which had creaky floorboards.

Adam showed us every room, explaining the different features while Frank and I inspected it from top to bottom to make sure there wasn't anything harmful.

All the lights were dim in the house and it casted eery shadows against the dark paint of the walls. The steps of the stairs were as creaky as the rest of the house and you could hear the wood squeal under our weight.

Upstairs, it was pretty much the same as the first level, except it had floorboards in every room instead of stone. There were three bedrooms, a master, a slightly smaller and the smallest.

When I say small, I don't actually mean they were small. Each room was huge and I'll have to admit, kind of creepy.

"So where is your mind at?" Adam asked with a fearful look on his face.

"This is..." I started.

"Perfect!" Frank finished. "The rooms are huge, we could easily set up some sort of temporary gate so the baby won't hurt itself on the stairs, and the house itself is beautiful. Not to mention completely safe."

"The yard could use a little touching up, but other than that, I love it." I agreed. "We could even set up one of the bedrooms as a place for the band to meet up."

"We'll take it." Frank grinned and I couldn't help smile along with him.

The house itself was creepy as fuck, but it was also gorgeous and with a bit of work, it would be the perfect place to raise a little Frank or Vera Jr.

It was exactly what we were looking for.

"That's fantastic! The house will be yours as soon as possible." Adam cheered.

We talked over costs and how soon we would be able to move in for about an hour before we realized that it was late and we had to be getting back to Gerard's soon.

Reluctantly, we locked the house and went back to the car. It was too late to go get dog food so I sent a quick text to Ray, telling him that we would get him actual dog food tomorrow.

"So we found it." Frank smiled as we started driving.

"We did." I agreed, looking out the window at all the passing houses, "I can't wait until we can finally move in!"

"Me too. Gerard's house is great but its not ours."

"What colour should we paint the nursery?" I asked, even though we wouldn't know the sex of the baby for another eight weeks.

"Something neutral, maybe green or baby blue." Frank shrugged, "any colour we paint it, we could decorate it to match the sex of the baby."

I nodded, not wanting to say anything else as I looked out the window and enjoyed the comfortable silence.

I just wanted to move into our new home already.

We reached our temporary home, and instead of Frank getting the wheelchair out of the back, he just picked me up bridal style and carried me inside. I couldn't stop laughing like a little schoolgirl (it was a low point) as I opened the door and we walked into Gerard's home.

"Hello!" I laughed to Lyn-Z who was standing in the kitchen, wearing a 'kiss the chef' apron and stirring something that smelled delicious. Gerard was at the kitchen table, bouncing Bandit up and down on his lap.

"Tired of the wheelchair already?" Gerard asked and I nodded.

"It's too hard to get out of the car." Frank explained as he sat me down in a chair and took one across from me. Lyn-Z glanced back at us before turning back to her stew. Gerard started laughing for some reason as Lyn-Z froze and slowly turned around, sending daggers at Frank.

"That's my chair!" she snarled in a voice so low and menacing, I truly believed that she was sent from the underworld to chop up and cauterize Franks body.

Franks hazel eyes widened as he held his hands up in surrender and slowly stood up from the chair. Lyn-Z was still glaring as she held a wooden spoon dangerously in the air and I was pretty sure that Bandit looked a little pissed off as well.

Once Frank was safely seated in the chair beside the previous one, a smile broke onto Lyn-Z's face. "Much better!" she chirped before happily turning back around to stir the stew with the spoon that was so close to being used as a weapon in a murder.

Once Gerard had stopped his laughing fit and wiped the stray tears from his eyes, he started talking, "so did you two find a place yet?"

Both Frank and I nodded happily, "It took forever but we finally found it. It has enough room for the baby, us and even a place to meet up as a band!" Frank couldn't keep the goofy grin off his face as he winked at me from across the circular table.

"It's creepy as fudge, but its beautiful." I smiled, not wanting to swear in front of an impressionable toddler.

Little baby Bandit gurgled and laughed when she heard the word and Gerard couldn't help but laugh along with her. He leaned down and placed a loving kiss on her head. I really hope Frank is like that...

"That's great!" Lyn-Z added as she came over, somehow balancing four bowls in her arms. She set them down before taking her rightful seat next to Frank. He glanced at her wearily.

"You aren't going to try to kill me again, are you?" he asked, cautiously. Lyn-Z didn't even look up as she stabbed a piece of tofu steak with her spoon.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." she replied coolly before shoving a spoonful of stew in her mouth. I did the same and I have to admit, it was quite delicious.

Gerard and I chuckled as Franks eyes widened and he slowly scooted away from the raven haired girl. "This is why I love you." Gerard smirked to his wife, who in return, winked.

"You know why I love Vera?" Frank asked and we all glanced up curiously. "Because she's a good fu-"

All at once, three different feet connected with Franks shin and he flinched, banging his knees against the table. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You will not swear in front of Bandit!" Gerard said firmly and Frank waved his hands around in disbelief.

"I was going to say fudge!" Frank retorted before looking at me as I nonchalantly ate my vegetarian stew. "Why'd you kick me?! Casts hurt you know!"

I sent a playful glare his way, "oh, you know why."

Frank sighed, "Can't a guy joke around here?"

"No." All three of us replied at once, causing Bandit to once again, giggle and reach out to her mother.

"But that's not the only reason I love you, don't worry." Frank winked at me and I raised a curious eyebrow.

"Oh? Do explain." I smirked. Gerard sent Frank a 'don't you dare swear in front of my child' glare as my boyfriend smiled at me sweetly. "No, really Frank. What do you love about me?" I challenged.

"Everything."