Tomorrow's Money

I left home, not really knowing where to go. I ended up 5 miles from home, laying on a park bench with 3 suitcases. Thank goodness two of them had wheels.

I'd given up and laid down to rest for a while on the bench, enjoying the light mist of rain that came down, though I almost hadn't even noticed it until I laid down. I closed my eyes, wondering what the hell I was going to do. I had nowhere to go. I couldn't go back to Wil, that was for sure. And I couldn't go to my parent's place, they'd flip if they found out Wil and I broke up, especially if they found out about Gerard. Shit. I felt screwed. What to do, what to do...

Before I knew it I was waking up, groggy from the nap I'd taken, cold and feverish from the rain that had sprinkled down on me most of the night. I wiped the water from my eyes, and probably whatever make up I had left as well, and sat up. The sun was just barely beginning to rise. I decided it was time to go.

I starting walking down the desolate street again, dragging my things behind me. I wished I'd taken more, it was a little depressing, going from having everything in the world you wanted to having nothing but the things you could fit into a suitcase and drag behind you as you walk nowhere. I had no destination, not yet. I was still totally oblivious as to what to do. I'd even thought about going to see Gerard, but I couldn't stay with him. He'd only just come back two days before, he was staying at his mother's house. No, I wouldn't go there, I decided. I kept walking until I came to a small bridge over a river where I saw Tiffany standing by herself with what looked like a baby stroller.

"Hey." I said quietly as I walked up to her.

"Lily?" She said, excitedly. She hugged me tight, giggling. She must have missed me as much as I missed her. "What are you doing here? And what the hell happened to you you're a mess?" She laughed.

"Long story short, I broke up with the guy I've been with for a while because I kissed Gerard and I slept on a park bench last night." I shrugged, but was taken aback by her shocked face.

"Gerard? Like he's here?" She asked, scared.

"Yeah, he came back a few nights ago for a show with Mikey and his other band mates What ever happened between you two anyway?" I asked, remembering that Mikey hadn't even really mentioned her.

"That's not a story that can really be shortened." She sighed, leaning against the rail of the bridge. "But a quick way to explain is this.." She said, turning the stroller to face me. Inside the stroller was a sleeping baby. It only looked to be a few months old, very obviously a girl by the ruffles and bows. "Her name is Audrey. She's 4 months old." She smiled down at the sleeping baby.

"I had no idea you were even pregnant." I said, amazed. I looked down at the Audrey, soft brown curls surrounded her round face. She was an angel.

"Not a lot of people did." She admitted.

"What happened, Tiff?" I asked, worried about her. The way she'd reacted when I told her Gerard was in town worried me. Could this baby be his? My heart dropped at the though of Gerard having a baby with my best friend, but I had to keep cool.

"Well.. After Gerard moved away, he asked Mikey to go with him, and Mikey asked me to tag along too. I decided it would be a good idea, so I left home and lived with them for a while. Everything was fine. But A little over a year ago, Mikey got me pregnant, and I sort of didn't say anything." She paused, thinking over her year old decision. "I left and lived by myself in Montana until I had Audrey. But I couldn't take care of her on my own since my parents cut me off once I left. I came home about three months ago, and my parents agreed to help me with her as long as I agreed to live under their roof. I changed my phone number and never talked to Mikey again." She started tearing up, which was incredibly out of character for her. I'd never seen her cry before.

"Oh my god Tiffany, why didn't you tell him?" I asked, shocked she'd do this to herself.

"I didn't want to ruin his career. His band is amazing, they're going places, they really are, and if I told him he had a baby on the way he would have given it up. Either that or he would have been pissed off and dumped me. I just got scared and ran." She explained, trying to calm herself down.

"I'm so sorry, you should have contacted me. I would have done anything to help you." I put my hand on her shoulder, reassuring her.

"I know. But we hadn't talked in so long.. I just ran scared." She shrugged. "But there is one thing I didn't mention." she said, looking like she was going to change her mind about something.

"What?" I asked, feeling nervous again, though relieved that I now knew for sure the baby belonged to Mikey.

"Gerard knows. He was the first to know, actually." I looked at her questioningly, not really sure what to say. "I'll explain." She sighed. "He found the pregnancy test that I thought I'd buried pretty deep in the garbage and he came to me and asked what was going on. I tried to tell him it wasn't mine but it was too obvious. He told me to tell Mikey and I freaked out and said I wasn't going to yet. He got kind of mad at me and told me he was going to if I didn't, so I went to Mikey and talked to him for a while, but I didn't tell him. And then I went to Gerard and told him that Mikey knew. Gerard went to Mikey, probably to find out if I was lying, and I left right then and there. I ran away and never came back."

"So does Mikey know then?" I asked, kind of confused.

"No idea. I don't know if Gerard told him or not." she said, worried.

"Okay." I started, knowing she was going to get upset about what I was going to say. "You have to tell him, even if he already knows. Don't you think he deserves to see his baby? He's already missed too much of her life."

"I can't! It's been too long I can't face him now." She said, irritated.

"Yes you can." I said, standing up to her. I'd never done that before, it was always her that was the strong one. "You can and you will. You owe it to him, your daughter, and yourself. You can do this and I'm going to help you."

"Really?" She asked after a short pause.

"Yes. Now let's get to their mom's house before you change your mind." I smiled. She nodded softly in agreement, fear running through her eyes.

We took a cab back to Newark where everyone was staying. I was a little nervous myself, especially looking the way I did. I'd actually forgotten about it until we came up to the house. I shrugged it off and went with her, after all, her situation was a little more important than my appearance at the moment.

I knocked on the door, seeing as Tiffany was a bit too nervous to do it herself. While we waited for someone to answer, Tiffany took Audrey out of the stroller and set the stroller aside so she could hold her. "Hello ladies." Mrs. Way answered. She looked a little shocked when she saw Tiffany, but didn't say anything to her.

"Is Gerard and Mikey here?" I asked, after I quickly realized that Tiffany wasn't going to talk first.

"Yeah they're here in the living room, come in." She lead us to the living room and left the four of us alone. I had no idea where Ray and Frank were, but it was just us.

"Tiffany?" Mikey sounded shocked, and looked scared as hell when he saw Audrey in her arms.

"We should Mikey." She said, almost in a whisper. He nodded and took her up the stairs. I stayed quiet until I heard the door close.

"Sorry to come unannounced." I apologized as I sat next to Gerard, cringing at the stiffness of my air dried clothes.

"What happened to you?" He asked, sitting forward in his seat, looking at me with a sort of pity already.

"I'm not with Wil anymore." I said, trying to keep the details to a minimum, even though I already knew I was going to tell him everything anyway.

"What?" He asked, kind of shocked. There seemed to be a lot of shock and surprises happening.

"Last night I told him what happened. He wants to work things out but he got pissy with me so I got ad and accidentally told him the whole truth behind you and me and needless to say I left and slept on a park bench last night." I tried to just give the major details, still sleepy from only having a few hours to rest.

"Why didn't you call me?" He asked, almost sad.

"I don't know. I guess I just didn't think it was your responsibility to take care of me." I shrugged, suddenly feeling a little bit bad for not calling him.

"It's not. But you being taken care of is something I care about. Let's get you a shower, okay?" HE stood up and kindly offered his hand. I took it and followed him to the bathroom. I was sort of surprised that nothing else had been mentioned of the break up, though it only made me assume we'd talk a little more about it later.

I took my time in the shower, appreciating the warmth. I found that Gerard had left me a pair of his old pajama pants and a black flag t-shirt. I put the clothes on, feeling fresh and comfortable and went back out to the living room where Gerard was laying on the couch. "Hey you. Thanks for the clothes." I smiled, sitting on the edge of the couch by his hip.

"No problem." He smiled back.

"So you knew about all this with Tiff, didn't you?" I asked, letting him know that I already knew.

"Yeah." He admitted, not really ashamed like I might have thought he'd be.

"Did you ever tell Mikey?" I asked, kind of sad. I had hope he did, though I was almost sure he didn't.

"He knew before I even told Tiff I knew." He said, which explained why he was so calm about it all.

"What? okay tell me what happened on your end please." I laughed a little, my head spinning with everyone's different stories.

"I went to go take out the trash in the bathroom and the bag broke open. I found the test and went took it to Mikey, hoping he knew what was going on. He had no idea but that kind of gave him the hint, you know?" He explained, using his hands in the dramatic way he always had. "So he told me he wanted her to tell him herself. I waited two days and nothing. So I went to Tiff and confronted her about it, she owed it to my brother. She had to tell him, it's his baby too." He seemed a little sad, and maybe a little defensive. "So I told her to tell him or I would, which was kind of redundant because I knew he already knew, she went and talked to him and told me she told him. I went into Mikey to ask what happened and he said she didn't even mention it. So I went back out to find her and she was gone. We never saw her again until today. So it's my fault she left. I've felt bad ever since because of how hard Mikey took it."

"Gerard that's not your fault. She left on her own, you were just trying to get her to do the right thing." I understood why Gerard blamed himself, but I didn't think it was right.

"You don't think I was wrong?" He asked, maybe just to relieve his own guilt.

"No. I don't." I heard rustling around and then a door opening. "They must be done talking." I said as they came down the stairs.

Tiffany looked distressed and Mikey just looked tired and worn out. "Here we go." Gerard said quietly so only I could hear. "Hopefully thing went well." We waited for them to speak, but somehow, words were hard for them to spit out. They both sat uncomfortably, readying themselves to give us an explanation. I could only hope they'd decided to keep their little family together.