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

“Pastel is a sick fucking psychopath, and if I don’t stay one step ahead of her, if I slip up just ONE time…” Gerard shared with a very sympathetic Masika over coffee, holding up one finger to emphasize his bleak point. “My husband will find out about everything and…take our kids with him when he leaves.”

“Shit. To be frank, I’d do the same fucking thing if your brother did that to me too.” Masika voiced her opinion, earning a glare from her future brother-in-law. She didn’t mean to offend him, she was just being honest. The predicament Gerard was in was a tornado filled with round-the-clock drama awaiting to get the jump on him as soon as he lets his guard down. That was exactly why the poor guy was stressed out! He wasn’t allowed to let his guard down at all, if he did he could lose his family, and Masika knew he’d sooner cut his own throat than have that happen. Returning back to the subject of Pastel’s elimination, Masika inquired. “So, what are you gonna do about that interfering bitch?”

That was an excellent question. One that Gerard wished he had all the answers to. Instead, he was sitting here on his lunch break venting about his troubles over some hot coffee with Masika. It wasn’t the ideal position he wanted to be in in life, but hey, he needed the location of Pastel before he could make a move against her. “I don’t know, but whatever it is I don’t imagine I’ll have much choice in it. She refuses to let this shit go so I’m gonna have to eradicate her.”

Nodding along with his fatal decision, Masika confessed. “I’d do the same fucking thing if I was in your shoes, man. Truly. It’s not like she’s not gonna back down anyway and save herself from your wrath.”

The two sat in silence sipping their coffees as they backtrack the dilemma over and over in their minds.

“If I could make a suggestion that might be pretty obvious…” Masika spoke up after a while. “You need to go out and find that bitch and end her quickly because the more time you give her to live and breathe, the more schemes she can concoct to ruin your life.”

“I’ve already tried to! I can’t find her! Plus, I’m a busy guy with six kids all under the age of 5, a full-time job and a husband. I can’t stress enough how little time I have these days.” Gerard defended his case, a frown on his face. He wouldn't change his life choices since meeting Frank for anything, he loved being a father! But that didn’t change the fact he had zero free time in his life. The same can’t exactly be said with Masika or his brother, who are also expertly trained on tracking people down that didn’t want to be found. “I take it you two still can’t find Pastel on your own yet either?”

“Hey, she’s a lot harder to find than you’d think the maniac would be. She might be the biggest challenger to locate that we’ve ever come across up to date!” Masika defended both herself and her man who was absent on her visit to see his brother over lunch.

Gerard growled out of frustration. He needed to find this woman at whatever means necessary! He loathed that luck was on her side, and protecting her from his lethal clutches. It wasn’t fair in his eyes. Gerard should be able to find her and peel her flesh from her body ribbons at a time for her to watch while she screamed for mercy. Naturally, he wouldn’t give her any before he ended her life.

If only Gerard could figure out a way to lure her out of hiding with something she wouldn’t be able to resist…that’s when a light bulb went off in his head. His light brown eyes snapped to Masika who was sipping from her coffee cup. “Wait, do you think we can lure her out into the open by using me as some kind of bait? That way you and Mikey could get the jump on her!”

Both brows rose as Masika listened closely to his plan and considered it herself. “Hmm, maybe. We should probably ask the boss himself before we get too far though. You know he doesn’t appreciate being left out of the loop.”

“Yeah yeah yeah.” Gerard drawled with a pout on his face for having to wait even longer for more answers. He crossed his arms over his chest, not intending to continue any conversation with Masika because he was so irked by it, but then remembered he wanted to ask her something important. Sucking up his anger, he straightened himself in his chair and grumbled out. “So uh, did Mikey get the pictures I sent him last night?”

Masika couldn’t resist laughing at what transpired when her fiance received those series of texts. It was one of those touching meaningful moments she didn’t think she’d ever see from Kobra, the leader of the Killjoys. “Oh my god, yes! That boy hasn’t been able to look away from those pictures, that's how obsessed he is with them!”

Gerard couldn’t bite the prideful grin on his face, his heart swelling from how moved he was that his brother cherished those photos so much. Only after obtaining Frank’s permission to do so, Gerard sent a slew of pictures of their children to his brother. It was like a full-blown modeling show in their living room that day, and was actually loads of fun for all involved. Even Frank stepped in to assist him, unaware that his husband was making sure he was in plenty of the photos snuck in as well.

“Y’all sure do make some cute ass babies with your surrogates.” Masika complimented him, missing Gerard’s smile crashing. Leaning forward across the table, she cupped a hand around one side of her mouth and whispered to him. “We’ve been meaning to ask you two. Who is the surrogate to your kids? We could see from the pictures Frank and you in some of the kids so we know you’re both using surrogates. Is it one chick or two? Can we meet her? You know, cause she gave birth to the kids?”

Grimacing, a tensed Gerard muttered while averting his eyes elsewhere. “Yeah, it’s…it’s kinda complicated.”

Tilting her head inquisitively, Masika asked him. “Oh. How is it complicated?”

How is it complicated!?

Lord, if Masika only knew.

This was an unexplored territory Gerard wasn’t about to venture into, not without his husband’s support. He and Frank never really took the time to discuss how they were gonna tell his brother or Masika of the kid's origins. Of course, Frank’s parents know that their son carried their six children himself, but no one else knew. For strangers outside of their family circle, they allowed them to believe the kids were from surrogate mothers. Masika and Michael were not strangers…then again neither were they in the family circle either. Either way, Gerard wasn’t about to tell him a lie about some surrogate mother that didn’t exist! He wanted them to know the truth, but only if Frank was okay with it. Until then, Masika and Michael were just gonna have to trust him with the secrecy.

And so Gerard told Masika. “You’re just gonna have to trust me. I swear to you that one day you’ll meet the person who carried our children just not now. The timing isn’t right.”

“Okaay.” Masika easily shrugged it off with no fuss. “We can be patient. Just so long as you keep sending those adorable pictures of those babies of yours, we’ll shut up about it. It’s been doing miracles for us.”

“Really? How?” Gerard inquired, arching a brow.

“I’m ready to leave it all behind, Gerard. The Killjoy lifestyle for my baby.” Masika revealed. “It’s final.”

“And Mikey? Where is he with that?” Gerard questioned, proud of her exciting decision.

“Your brother wants to quit too the last time we talked about it.” Masika informed him. “It’s just not gonna be easy. He’ll do it soon though.”

Gerard saw the concern flash across her face, and narrowed in on it. “You’re worried. Why?”

“You know how incredible of a leader your brother has always been, right? Like we’d literally be rotting in jail for life if it wasn’t for him.” Masika sighed, trying to hide her anxiety over the topic. When Gerard nodded in agreement, she went on. “Well, Michael is…floundering now. He is NOT on his toes like he used to be in the past and…it’s because of me and the baby. We’re making him weaker, distracted.”

Gerard hated to agree with her, but she was dead right. Sighing heavily, he replied with a list of those failings. “I’ve seen it too. Mikey couldnt find the people that were harassing my family with those fucked up letters long ago, he couldn’t find any information on any of those Copycat Killjoys in my neighborhood last Halloween, and he can’t find that bitch Pastel. In the past, he was able to uncover all these answers with his eyes closed and his hands tied behind his back!” At Masika’s depressing nod, Gerard’s voice lowered dismally. “Fuck me, this isn’t gonna be good, is it?”

“Gee, you have to promise me you’ll be there for Mikey when he needs you.” Masika begged him, her brown shimmering eyes imploring him to consider. “Because you know he’s going to.”

Placing his hand over hers, Gerard swore to Masika. “Hey, I will never let my little brother down.”