The Elastic Heart Trilogy: Roads Untraveled

Brian had been checking his phone every thirty seconds. He was at a band meeting at Matt's house instead of where he really wanted to be. Jen's doctor's appointment. She was now five months along and they were going to find out of it was a boy or a girl. He'd been to every other appointment and was pissed that he had to miss this one but Jen promised that she'd call as soon as she found out.

"It's not going to ring any faster if you keep staring at it." Jimmy joked.

Brian frowned. "I can't help it Jim. We're suppose to find out the sex today."

"What do you think it is?" Zacky asked setting his guitar on it's stand and sat down on the couch.

"Well.. I'm kind of hoping it's a girl."

Jimmy snickered. "A girl? Really?"

"Why a girl?" Matt asked before Brian could punch Jimmy.

"I don't know. I've always seen Jen with a little girl I guess. I mean I wouldn't complain if it's a boy but deep down I think Jen wants a girl."

"Do you have any names picked out yet?" Johnny was on the other side of the room tuning his bass.

Brian shook his head. "Not yet. We wanted to wait until we knew the sex of the baby but I have been thinking about it."

Johnny set his bass down and joined the others who were eagerly waiting to see what their niece or nephew might be named.

"I want it to have a really cool name, you know? I mean I know this kid doesn't have my DNA but I really don't want to call it something that I don't like." Digging around in his pocket Brian pulled out a folded piece of notebook paper that Jimmy didn't hesitate in taking. Matt, Johnny, and Zacky gathered around him to see what names were wrote on it.

Brian watched them closely and jumped when his phone began to ring. Looking down at the caller ID he answered and quickly ran into the house to get away from the guys. He knew how nosy they were and needed to find a place that he could talk to Jen without any interruptions.

"Hey Mama.. how did it go?" He asked walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. He quickly locked it so no one would come inside.

"Good. The baby is healthy and growing just the way she should."

"That's great! Wait.. did you just say she?"

"Yes I did."

"Holy shit! It's.. we're having a girl?!?"

Jen chuckled. "Yes Brian, we're having a girl. Hey listen, my Dad wants to take me out to lunch right now but he said he'd drop me off at Matt's after we're done."

"Alright. I'll just stay and hang out a while then."

"Okay. Oh and could you not tell anyone until I get there? I want to keep everyone in suspense for a little while."

"I'll try but it's not going to be easy."

"I have to go. I'll see you in a little bit."

"Okay. Bye."

Brian hung up and couldn't get the huge grin off of his face. He knew that he couldn't go back out there until he could control his excitement. Taking a few deep breaths he calmed himself down and unlocked the door. As soon as he opened the door he was met with the faces of his four best friends.

"Well, what is it?" Jimmy asked as Brian walked out of the bathroom. The guys were hot on his heels.

The guitarist sighed. "The baby wasn't in the right position."

"Again? This kid sure doesn't want us to know what it is."

"Tell me about it." Brian made his way back out to the garage and sat down on the couch. "I'm starting to think that I won't know until it's born."

"Well this is only the second time you've tried to find out. Maybe next time the baby will cooperate and you'll be able to know?" Matt suggested.

"I hope so. It's killing me not to know." Brian was doing a good job at hiding his emotions to his friends but on the inside he was like a kid in a candy store. He had to keep reminding himself to stay calm or he'd let it slip. He was surprised that he was still saying 'the baby' instead or 'she' or 'her'. He hoped that Jen would get there soon before he accidentally told someone.



"Thank you for lunch Daddy." Jen said as the two were seated at their table.

"There's no need to thank me Princess." He smiled. "So, now that we know that the baby is a girl have you thought of any names for your little Princess?"

She couldn't help but smile. She had always been her Dad's little Princess and now she was having one of her own.

"Not really. I wanted to wait on choosing a name until I knew what I was having. I don't want her to have just any name you know? I want her to have a name that suits her. Something that's not in the top ten baby names but I don't want her to have one of those stupid celebrity baby names either. It's kind of a unique situation so I kind of want something in the middle. Something normalish, something not so popular, and something that won't get her made fun of when she's in school."

"I have an idea." He said just as the waitress came over to take their drink order. As soon as she was gone he continued. "There's a Babies-R-Us just down the road why won't we stop and you can get yourself a book of baby names. Maybe my Granddaughter's name will be in one of those books."

Jen's eyes lit up. "Could we get a couple other things while we're there too?"

He smiled. "Of course. Anything you want darling."

After lunch Johnny took her to Babies-R-Us as promised. He pushed the cart and smiled every time she stopped to look at something. In the end she chose a book of baby names, a baby book, and a pink leopard print security blanket. She didn't want to get too much so she figured she'd start with these.

"Are you sure this is all you want Jenna?"

"I'm sure. I'll wait until I can come back with Brian."

"Speaking of Brian.. I was not expecting him to step up the way he has. I guess I was wrong about him."

Jen rolled her eyes. "You've always been wrong about him Daddy. Brian's a good guy and he's been amazing with all of this. I mean, he didn't seem to hesitate in offering to be my baby's father when Mike.."

Johnny reached out and wiped away a single tear that fell from her eyes. "He's not worth your tears darling. Keep focusing on your baby like you have been and if we're lucky she'll look nothing like him and exactly like you."

She smiled. "Do you think she'll look like me?"

"I truly hope so."

Her smile widened. "Me too."

"Jenna, I know that you don't have a first or middle name picked out yet but.. what will her last name be?"

She sighed. "I don't know yet. I mean I could give her Shinoda but with the way Mike has been I know it would get leaked and he'd be even more pissed off than he already is. I could easily give her Depp. I mean she is my daughter after all but.. Brian's been so amazing and a part of me wants her last name to be Haner but we've never talked about it. I know he'd be happy but I'm just not sure."

"Well, I think you should talk to him about it. Not just her last name but her first name too. I know she doesn't have his DNA but he did step up to help you raise her. I think he should get some kind of a say in her name."

Jen nodded. "I agree."

"Alright let's get going. People are starting to recognize me."



Brian nearly tripped over his own feet as he dodged the guys to get to Jen. Her father had just pulled up and she was getting out of his car.

"Hey gorgeous. Did you have fun with your Dad?" He asked after her dad left.

"I did.. we did a little shopping."

"I see that. What is it?" He tried peeking into the bag but she pulled it away from him.

"Things for the baby. It was my dad's idea. I don't want anyone to see until Cali gets here. I want to tell everyone at the same time."

He nodded. "I understand. I hope she gets here soon. It's killing me not to say anything."

She giggled. "She said she was on her way. She's probably going to be pissed that I didn't tell her first though."

Brian rolled his eyes. "When is she not pissed about something?" He took her hand and escorted her into the garage. Johnny and Zacky quickly got up from the couch so Jen could sit down.

"What's in the bag Butterfly?" Jimmy asked.

"A surprise."

He reached out to grab the bag but Jen smacked his hands. "James Owen Sullivan you will keep your hands off of this bag."

"She's talking like a mom already." Zacky quietly snickered to Johnny as Jimmy pouted.

"I'm here!" Cali announced as she ran up the driveway and into the garage. She looked at Brian who was sitting on the couch next to Jen. "Move it Boogie."

He blinked. "What?"

"I said move Boogie." She practically pushed him off the couch and sat down. "Okay.. what did you have to tell us?"

Jen glanced at Brian who smiled at her as everyone gathered around to hear what she had to say. "Well you all know that I went to the doctor today to find out the sex of the baby.. well.." Taking a deep breath Jen reached into the bag and grabbed the blanket. "It's a girl."

"OWWW! What the fuck Jimmy?" Brian rubbed his arm where Jimmy had hit him.

"You asshole! You knew and you didn't tell me?!"

"I'm sorry! Jen asked me not to say anything."

"I can't believe you told Brian before me!" Cali scolded. "I thought I was your best friend?"

"Yeah me too!" Jimmy chimmed in.

"Oh shit.." Matt muttered as Jen's eyes welled up with tears.

Brian didn't hesitate in pushing Johnny out of his way to get to Jen. He pulled her into his arms and gently rubbed her back as she cried. Her hormones were all over the place and she never knew when something would set her off.

"I'm sorry Butterfly." Jimmy reached over and took one of her hands placing a soft kiss on her knuckles. "I love you."

"I love you too." She told him as she started to calm down.

"So what else did you get for my future niece?"

Brian slowly let Jen go and let her show everyone her purchases. It wasn't a lot of things but he didn't seem to care. He was happy that Jen was having a little girl and was already planning all the ways he could spoil her. He now wanted to get into the car and head to the nearest store to go shopping. Brian wasn't much of a shopper but he knew that he needed to start getting things for his daughter.

His daughter.

He liked the sound of that. The only thing he wished he could change was her DNA. He wanted nothing more than to be her biological father.



Jen was glad to be spending the day at home. She didn't have anything planned so she sat down on the couch with pen and notebook. Even though she had just found out she was having a girl the day before she wanted to get a head start in deciding on her daughter's name.

She had been surprised on how many different books there had been to choose from. Some were thicker than others and some had names that she couldn't even pronounce. Now that she had the one she wanted all she had to do was making a list of the ones she liked. Jen drew a line down the middle of the paper and wrote first names on one side and middle names on the other.

"Okay little one, let's find you a name."

Jen ended up liking a lot more names than she thought she would. She had around thirty first names wrote down and about fifteen middle names. She was now saying different combos out loud to get a feel for them. Naming her daughter was harder than she thought it would be.

The sound of her cell phone going off caused her to jump. It was a new text message from Brian.

'Hey, I brought lunch. Can you let me in please?'

The brunette quickly replied and got up to open the front door. She was surprised to see him already standing there and his arms were full of different sized bags.

"How much food did you get?" She asked following him into the kitchen.

"Not as much as you think." He set the bags of food onto the table which left him with three large bags in his hands. "I bought some stuff for the baby."

Jen couldn't help but smile. "You did? What did you get?"

"How about you make a plate and I'll show you while we eat?" He suggested.

"Okay."

Jen loved everything that Brian had purchased. He had even got out and got another security blanket for her. This one in purple. It was going to stay at his place so she'd have something to play with when she was there. Brian took their now empty plates into the kitchen and on his way back noticed the book of baby names sitting on the coffee table.

"Did you pick a name?" He asked as he sat down beside her. She sighed.

"Not yet. I didn't think choosing her name would be this hard."

"Well we can't keep calling her the baby or in my case my little peanut." Jen smiled at him. "Do you have a list? I made one if you'd like to see it."

"I'd love to."

Brian had a hell of a time getting his list back from Jimmy who wanted to add in his own suggestions. He handed the list to Jen and watched her as she read over each name.

"Well your list is definitely shorter than mine."

He chuckled. "Well I think she should have a really kick ass name and these are the ones that I liked the best. I wasn't sure if I should even suggest anything since she's not--"

"She is yours Brian. In every way that matters."

He smiled. "So, do you like any of them?"

"I do. Do you have a favorite?"

He nodded. "Yeah, Riley. I actually had it on a boys list too. I think it's a pretty cool name especially for a girl. It's not crazy, it's not crazy popular, and I don't think she'd get made fun of for it. I don't have a middle name picked though."

"Here." Jen grabbed her notebook and handed it to him. "I made a list of middle names that I like."

Brian's eyes scanned the list and stopped on one particular name. "Brianne?"

"Yeah um.. you've been so great to me and I couldn't think of a better way to thank you than to somehow name her after you."

"You don't have to thank me Cupcake. I told you that already."

"I know but.. if you don't like it I had another suggestion."

"Oh yeah? What's that? Brianna? Brielle?"

"No, Haner."

He looked at her confused. "You want her middle name to be Haner?"

"No. I want her last name to be Haner."

Brian couldn't speak. He hoped that maybe she'd give the baby his last name but he honestly never expected her to. He thought if she was going to go with anything it would be her last name. Depp.

"Brian.. she's your daughter in every way that counts. The only tie that Mike will ever have to her is genetics. I was talking to my Dad yesterday and he asked me about her last name. She can't have the last name Shinoda. God forbid anyone know that Mike has a child." She frowned but continued. "I could easily give her my last name but.. I thought about it all night and she deserves to have her Daddy's last name."

As happy as Brian was to know the baby was a girl he couldn't be happier to know that she was going to have his last name.

"You have no idea how happy I am right now. I could seriously kiss you right now." And he meant it. There was nothing he wanted more than have her lips pressed against his.

Jen smiled but her mind instantly went back to when he told her that he had no feelings for her. That they were only meant to be friends. His rejection is part of the reason she ended up with Mike.

"How do you feel about Jade?" Jen asked.

"Jade? Who's Jade?"

"Riley Jade Haner."

Brian repeated it a few times to see how it sounded. "I think it's perfect." He gently placed his hand on Jen's belly. "What do you think Peanut? Do you like Riley Jade?" He never expected her to do anything but both he and Jen jumped when they felt her kick.

"Did you feel that?" He asked.

"Um, yeah." She answered sarcastically. "I think she approves."

He smiled and looked at Jen. "I think so too."



For the beginning of October it had gotten pretty chilly. Jen was now eight months pregnant and growing more nervous as each day passed. While she was excited to be a mother she was terrified of giving birth. She didn't want anything to go wrong.

The baby shower had came and went a few weeks before and all of Riley's things had been put into storage until the nursery was finished. Jen had been banned from setting foot into Riley's room and it was killing her that she couldn't see it. The only thing she had been allowed to do was pick paint colors, furniture, and other odds and ends. She didn't get to decide where everything would go.

She was confused as to why Cali invited her to go shopping. Not that she minded. Jen loved to shop and it was nice to pick up a few last minute things that she would need for Riley. She's already packed her bag for the hospital which was set at the foot of her bed. All that she really needed to do was just go into labor.

Cali's cell phone hadn't left her hand the entire time they were out. Jen found it a bit strange. Usually Call either ignored her phone all together or borrowed someone elses when she left hers at home.

"Are you waiting for a call or something?" Jen asked as they stood in line at Jamba Juice.

"Or something." Cali mumbled as she typed away on her phone.

Jen sighed and reached for her drink when it was set in front of her. Cali's drink was next and she made Jen take a sip to make sure they had remembered to not put any Mango in it.

"No Mango." The brunette said handing the drink to her friend."

"Good." Cali took a sip. "We can go now."

When they got back to Jen's condo Cali made her put on a blindfold just after they walked in.

"What's going on?"

"You'll see." Cali said and saw Brian walk out of the nursery.

"I have something to show you." He whispered into Jen's ear so he wouldn't scare her. He led her down the hall and Jen could hear a door open. Once inside Brian slowly took off the blindfold. Jen gasped and her eyes filled with tears as she looked around the now finished nursery.

"What do you think Cupcake?"

"It's perfect. Absolutely perfect." She spun around and pulled Brian into her arms. He didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around her. "Thank you."

"I wish I could take all of the credit but you're the one that picked everything out. All I had to do was put it all together."

"There's no way that you did this all by yourself."

"You're right I didn't." Jen giggled at his response. "The guys helped.. and so did the old man. He wanted to be here when I showed you but Suzy called and.."

"You don't have to explain B." She cut him off. "I love it."

He smiled brightly. "Good. You know.. we may only be nineteen but we're going to give Riley the best life possible. Hopefully the band takes off and I'll be able to provide more for her. I just want her to have whatever we didn't."

"And she will. I know everyone is going to spoil her rotten but we're also going to teach her and that she's not going to have everything she wants right when she wants it. All I want is for her to be happy and healthy."

"So do I babe. So do I."



The next month flew by and Thanksgiving was only a few weeks away but it was the last thing on Jen's mind. The only thing she cared about was the precious baby girl laying in her arms.

Jen hadn't been feeling that great the night before Riley was born and figured it was just something she ate for dinner. Brian had just took her home when her water broke. He grabbed her bag and took her to the hospital. She had heard the first time mothers could be in labor for days and hoped that her labor and delivery wouldn't take that long.

After ten long hours Riley Jade came into the world with a head full of dark hair. She had ten fingers, ten toes, and looked just like her mother. Jen knew the Asian gene was very dominate but was glad that she didn't have any of Mike's features. She may have felt differently if he had actually stuck around.

Brian never left her side unless he was forced to. The delivery itself freaked him out a little but he held Jen's hand while she pushed and whispered in her ear how proud of her he was. He had known for months that he was going to be a Daddy but now that Riley was finally here he was scared. He didn't have a lot of experience changing diapers or giving a baby a bath and he didn't want to screw anything up. When he got to hold her he was terrified that he wasn't even doing that right.

"I want to hold my niece." Jimmy said the second he walked into Jen's hospital room. He walked over to the bed and looked down at Riley who was resting comfortably in her mother's arms. "Wow. She's so tiny."

"Do you even know how to hold a baby dude?" Brian asked.

"Of course I do. I had practice with McKenna."

"Alright, I'll let you hold her but only if you sit down first."

Jimmy found the nearest chair and sat down as Brian carefully took Riley from Jen's arms. She was placed in Jimmy's arms and he looked like a natural with her.

"Hey Squirt.. I'm your Uncle Jimmy." He said softly. "I can't believe how much you look like your mama. Your dad and I are going to have to beat the boys off with baseball bats." He paused and watched as she opened her eyes and looked at him. "Can I keep her?"

Jen giggled and shifted on the bed to make herself more comfortable. "Sorry Jimmers, she's mine."

"Oh alright. Have you made out her birth certificate yet?"

Brian and Jen smiled at each other. "We have."

"So what's her full name?" Jimmy asked having not been told what her last name would be.

"Her name is.. Riley Jade Haner."

Jimmy broke out into a grin. "Well welcome to the world Squirt. I am going to spoil you rotten and there's nothing these two can do about it."

Riley squirmed which freaked Jimmy out so he got up and placed her in Jen's arms. "I didn't do anything I swear."

"I think she's just hungry."

"Yep that's my cue. I'll be in the waiting room." He said and ran out the door.

"Do you mind if I go with him? I'm kinda hungry."

"We'll be fine Brian. Besides, I'd like to have a few minutes with my daughter."

Brian smiled and kissed Jen's cheek before leaning down and kissing Riley on the forehead. Once he was gone Jen smiled down at Riley and kissed her on the cheek.

"I want you to know something. You have a lot of people that love you but none of them more than me. I am going to love you and take care of you and be there whenever you need me. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you Riley. You are the most important thing in my life and I will never let anyone hurt you. We're stuck with each other and I am going to make sure you have the best life possible. I love you."