I'm the Last One That You'll Ever Remember

Frank was located upstairs in his bedroom, zooming around the clinging twins to dress a howling Josiah for the day while also murmuring frantically under his breath with every step. His hazel eyes were large with fright, his face pale as he rambled incoherently and fussed over his youngest. The twins were tracking his every move with eyes of worry as well because of the way he was functioning, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He had to get himself back together so his children wouldn’t see him in such a sensitive state, but how in the hell was he gonna do that? The man downstairs chatting to his baby daddy outside in the backyard was a member of the Killjoy family, and he was one of the vicious ones out og the two men that had had a blowup right before Frank had cruised downstairs in a lethargic trance and spotted them.

“Mommy.” Lorenzo softly mumbled, unclear if he’d get in trouble if he conveyed any louder. Something was disturbing his mom, and he just didn’t know if it was something he, or his sister had done.

“Mommy!” Venetia whined a lot louder, much braver than her twin brother. She even put on a pout, reaching out with both hands towards him in urgency of attention.

A split second later, Gerard entered the bedroom, erasing the last of the blood off of his face. There was nothing he could do about the red blotches on his pale skin that will soon blossom into bruises. The moment the twins recognized him, their eyes multiplied at the areas of pink flesh. They didn’t know where they had come from and so Gerard stooped down with a smile with his arms open wide to reassurance them. “Hey, don’t worry you two. It’s just from the hot water in the shower. I turned it up too high and burned myself, is all.”

The twins flew into his arms, persuaded that he wasn't contagious. Kissing the tops of their heads, Gerard peeped over their dark hair to pinpoint Frank observing him timidly, a crying Josiah kicking his legs on the changing table his mother was leaning on. With his eyes locked on their mother, Gerard fixated on instructing the kids to somewhere else so they could speak privately. “Okay, daddy wants you two to go to your rooms, and wait for me to come get you. I got to talk to mommy alone about something important.”

Letting out a piercing whine of displeasure with his sister, Lorenzo pouted. “Boo, I hunger!”

“Daaaaddyyyyyyy!” Venetia whimpered, clasping to him and dramatically throwing her head back as if he was requesting the sheer impossible from her. “Pweeeease!”

Ordinarily, Gerard would have rolled his eyes at how exceedingly dramatic his daughter was. Never had there been a child delivered on this planet that could be the star of a soap opera like her. Sighing irritably that the twins were not obeying him, Gerard’s voice got tough as he gave them both a harsh look. “What have we talked about when daddy tells you to do something? Hmm?”

“Leesten.” Venetia barely whispered, inserting her best pout to thaw his heart.

“That’s right, and what should you two be doing then in that case?” Gerard inquired Lorenzo.

“Goooo to bed.” Lorenzo answered quietly, his small hands plucking at the hem of his pajama top.

“Then go to your rooms and stay there until we come and get you.” Gerard watched them both nod, then exit the room. Straightening up, he called out behind them. “If I find out you left your room I’m gonna start taking toys aways!”

Barely giving him a chance to come to him, Frank sped to Gerard, affixing to the front of his shirt as he whispered frantically. “What the hell is going on here, Gee?! Why was that man here?!”

Gerard planted his hands on Frank’s shoulder to press him back so he could get save their son from rolling off the changing table. “I’ll explain everything, I swear, just let me change our little urchin over there before he falls off and hurts himself.” Swerving around him, Gerard got to work with shutting his son up with a pacifier. “That man was Dash, he’s a part of the Killjoy as you well know. He elected to pay me a visit.”

“To kill us?!” Frank jumped to the next conclusion, dashing over to clutch the side of the changing table as he awaited any harbinger of affirmation from his lover.

Frowning at that presumption, Gerard shook his head and got to work extracting Josiah’s dirty diaper. “What? No! What would give you that idea?”

“Because when I came down you two had obviously been fighting. You were bleeding!” Frank reminded him furiously, his hazel eyes checking the unmistakable damage on Gerard’s pale flesh. He would definitely have a lot of bruises.

Shaking his head again, Gerard opposed that belief as he cleaned his son down with a baby wipe while also trying to keep it out of his reach. “No, if he wanted to kill us, he would have. He’d know not to take his time when I’m in the picture.”

“I don’t understand. If he wasn’t here to murder us all, then why was he…oh god!” Frank cried out, fixing a hand over his mouth to keep himself from hurling not only because of morning sickness...which he already had, but also due to what he was scared was the reason why Dash was here. His eyes swelled with tears as he stared at a tense Gerard, sickened. “A-Are you...are you planning to go back to them?”

“What!? NO!” Gerard spurned passionately, not caring how vociferous his voice suddenly got. Josiah, jolting in horror, made him deescalate it back down as he cooed down at him to expel the ascending tears away from him too. Gerard had no idea how many tries it would take to persuade Frank that his time with the Killjoys was over for good and that he had no objective of quitting him or their family. He was beginning to feel distressed that Frank never would until he recalled that he was pregnant. Everything Frank said these days might be coming from the heart, or were being implanted by his hormones. Lifting his eyes to his lover as he powdered their son, Gerard sought to encourage him otherwise. “For the millionth time, sugar, I have no desire to go back to my old life. This is my new life now and I want to relish it for the rest of my life.”

Frank was still lost. “But then why was Dash h-”

“He just didn’t seem to get the damn memo that I’m not one of them anymore.” Gerard recapped for him, hauling out a clean diaper to set Josiah in. “I made it clear that there was nothing that could sway me to return and that my decision was final.”

Thinking back to the words that had been exchanged between the two, Frank cowered. “That man, he...he mentioned that you can’t just quit being one of them. That the only way out is death. Is that true?”

That was accurate, but authenticating that to Frank would only send him off the deep end into a sea of panic that Gerard didn’t think he could fish him back out of. The man was already going through too much with just the hormones rampaging through him alone, there would be no logical conversations about this. If he wanted to keep Frank calm and out of harm’s reach, he’d have to lie to him about this one. Any involvement would only get him, and their family murdered. “No, it’s not. Dash is just being overdramatic in the hopes of scaring me. We never got along with each other in the past, and that hasn’t changed since.”

“So, he’s not going to try to kill you for leaving?” Frank inquired, needing to be sure. “None of them are?”

“None of them won’t try anything, you have nothing to worry about.” Gerard confirmed, adorning Josiah in the clothes Frank had aimlessly chosen for the day. “Dash only came over to get things straight since he’s been out of the loop. He had to go out of town for a while before I left and came back to find me missing. That scuffle out there was just...well, believe it or not, it’s typical behavior for us whenever we cross paths.”

“That looked dreadful though.” Frank murmured, finally taking a serene Josiah from his arms then reaching up to cup Gerard’s cheek so he’d look at him. “Gee, I’m sorry I freaked out down there, I just...I was petrified. I’m so frightened of losing you, and all that we’ve created. I trust that you’re telling me the honest truth, and I believe you’ll handle anything that comes our way. I'm sorry, I can’t help the way I feel about you, Gerard. I’ve loved you for so long and now that I finally have you, I’d drop dead if I ever lost you.”

Depositing his hand over his, Gerard replied tenderly. “Hey, the feelings mutual.”