Unbroken

It's that time of the season

When the blood runs hot

And God must have a reason

When the temperature drops

One more nameless baby

And a momma in shame

Not one of the fathers

Of the churches came

I stood onstage at Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, California. I'm wearing a black leather and lace bustier top and a pair of silver jeans; I wore my crescent moon necklace, silver cross earrings, a silver spike bracelet, a wrist cuff with silver studs. A silver ring with a black cross, my silver crescent moon, and star ring, a pair of over the knee platform high heeled boots. Aftershock is the first show for us before we start touring for Who You Selling For, which came out yesterday. Andy's been so proud of my band and me. I sneak a glance at him, standing side stage as he sings along to my lyrics and I get the crowd pumped up by getting them to jump up and down.

For a motherless child in the wild, wild city

It ain't no place for a girl

So young and pretty

A motherless child in the wild, wild city

Cause the city ain't no place for a lonely girl

"Let me hear you make some fucking noise, Sacramento!" I say, and the crowd cheers loudly, and it makes me want to grin brightly.

It could happen to me

It could happen to you

It's the luck of the draw

It's the blow of the dice

There ain't nothin' that you can do

She took too many daddies

Took too many home

Tryna find the one, someone else's son

She couldn't weather those streets alone

For a motherless child in the wild, wild city

It ain't no place for a girl

So young and pretty

A motherless child in the wild, wild city

Cause the city ain't no place for a lonely girl

For a motherless child in the wild, wild city

It ain't no place for a girl

So young and pretty

A motherless child in the wild, wild city

Cause the city ain't no place, no

The city ain't no place

The city ain't no place for a lonely girl

"Thank you so much, Sacramento! We are The Pretty Nightmare! Have a great fucking day!" I say as the final note plays and my band, and I walk off stage, and when we do, I come across a familiar face standing there.

It takes me a moment to realize that it's Matt Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold. He and I, before I met Blaze and before Andy, met years ago when Matt's band had begun to take off, Bam set me up on a date with him, and it ended up turning into a solid relationship for a few years until Matt had wanted a family.

I obliged and tried to give him a child but I ended up losing the baby during the start of the pregnancy, and it caused us to end our relationship. We haven't been around or seen each other since then. Shock just covers my features, and I freeze in place.

"Well, I never thought I'd ever see you again," Matt says with a smile.

"Same here," I say. "I guess we were both wrong."

"How are you, Lacey? It's been a long time since I've last seen you." Matt asks and I just cross my arms as I stand in front of him. We just start talking and catching up. Matt's doing great; his band is successful, he has what he wanted out of life- a beautiful wife and an adorable son by the name of River.

He shows me pictures of him, and I can't help but smile at the fact that he's doing so well for himself as a musician.

I just brought up the fact that Andy and I are married, and we have a daughter, Blayde and Matt made a suggestion that River and Blayde should have a play date and I just told him it would be great.

I guess while Matt and I are catching up, that I'd forgotten that Andy, with Blayde in his arms, had walked over.

He had come over to get me so we can get ready to head home and from the look on Andy's face, I had a feeling that he must have heard bits of our conversation.

"Well, I'm gonna go watch Tool with the guys," Matt says as he leans in to give me a hug after we exchanged phone numbers. "That was fun to see you again, Lacey. Take care of yourself."

"Yeah. You too, Matt." I say, and he walks off. I then turn to Andy and I could see how pissed he is and we walk in silence to the car, and we get inside the car. As Andy starts to drive out of Discovery Park and takes the freeway from Sacramento to LA, that's when he speaks.

"You never told me that you once had planned to have a family with Matt Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold," Andy says.

"You heard a bit of that, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I did."

"Oh, stop. Andy, Matt's nothing but a part of my past," I tell him. "And that part of my past isn't going to affect what you and I have made and will continue to create together."

Andy looks at me for just a moment before taking my hand in his, I feel his thumb running across the back of my palm and hear him take a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Andy says and I look over at him as he turns onto our street home. "I can't help myself sometimes. Ever since you told me about Blaze and what he's done to you both emotionally and physically, I've always been protective of you. It's not because of jealousy, it's because I love and care about you. I've always constantly been protective towards you as your savior and your lover. It's an instinct that I have when it comes down to you, Faith. I may not know about what happened with you and Matt in the past, but if he's anything like what Blaze became, then he'll be damned if he tries to take you away from me or lay a fucking finger on you."

I couldn't help but smile at his protective nature and squeeze his fingers with mine softly.

"It's okay, Light," I say. "I know how you can get around people that you think may hurt me, act towards me in a negative manner or do any kind of physical or emotional damage to me. But, I promise you that Matt isn't like that when I dated him. If anything, he was the opposite of that."

"That's all I need to know," Andy murmurs as he parks the car in our garage. "If he didn't do anything like you said or isn't like some crazed asshole like Blaze was, then I won't have to worry about him. I'll try to be more considerate of him. I guess."

I then let his hand go so I could brush my hand against his cheek and my thumb across his sharp cheekbone. Andy sighs softly against my touch and nuzzles against my palm with his cheek as his perfect ice blue eyes begin to close.

"Just remember, my Moonlight," I murmur. "You're the only man for me. You are. Nobody else can or will be close to what you are to me. Because there isn't anybody who could love me, take care of me or make me happy more than you could've ever done for me."

"And you're the only woman who could ever complete me, my Faith," Andy whispers before pecking my lips softly.

We then get out of the car and walk through the door. The house is rather chilly and Andy goes to light a fire in the fireplace while I head upstairs to change and start packing for the next tour coming up, I ended up changing into a light silver sweater and a pair of my warmest black leggings. I put my now completely silver hair up into a bun and walked back downstairs.

Andy grabs a blanket from behind the couch and he pulls it over his shoulders and gestures for me to come to him, I step closer and he brings me close into his body and wraps the blanket around me. I rest my head on his chest as his arms wrap completely around my waist as we lay on the couch.

"So, what did happen between you two?" Andy's voice softly murmurs against my hair. "That is if you want to tell me. If you don't, I understand."

I look at him and I just shake my head at him before taking a breath, letting his warmth sink in around me.

"Well, if you must know," I say. "It happened after my 20th birthday, I was still mourning the loss of my parents and I was depressed a lot which lead me to start partying and doing things I ended up regretting. Bam suggested that he'd throw together a party for me to try and cheer me up. So he did and even though it meant a lot to me that he cared so much, I still didn't want the party. Bam had invited all of the guys in Avenged Sevenfold to play a private set for me and after their show, I ran into Matt Shadows. We began drinking together and it went from being drinking buddies to something more. We ended up dating for a year and a half and Matt then decided to get sober and start a family. I agreed to doing so and then I ended up pregnant," I take a breath as my voice breaks from the wound that starts to throb inside of my chest. Andy holds me closer as he places a kiss on my head, letting me know that he's here for me as he always has been. "I lost the baby and it made Matt so angry that it ended up being the reason why we broke up."

Tears fall down my cheeks and Andy's hand automatically moves to my back to comfort me, he makes soft and tender circles with his fingers.

I then feel his fingers move behind my neck, he pulls my hair gently out of the bun that it was in so it falls back onto my shoulders and he lightly moves his fingers through my hair softly.

"After what happened with Matt," I continue. "I decided that I needed something to take my mind off of the pain that I felt inside. That's when I began skateboarding and was good enough to join Bam and Tony Hawk on tour and during that tour, I met Blaze. And you already know that story."

Andy nods against me and he just holds me to him as I rest my head on his shoulder and I let the last remaining tears fall down my face. Andy didn't seem to mind, he just comforted me as he always does when I cry.

"Of course I know that story because I'm in it," Andy murmurs, chuckling against my hair. "I saved you and protected you after you left Blaze and we ended up falling in love. I married you and we have a beautiful daughter now. You and I are both successful and couldn't be more happier with how life has been for us."

I look up at him and his hand cups my face gently, his thumb running across my cheekbone.

"I don't know where I'd be or who I'd ever think of becoming without ever meeting you," I say. "Or having you come into my life in the special way that you did."

"I don't know how I'd be able to survive without my soulmate," Andy whispers as I grin against his touch.

"Me either," I whisper as Andy gently plants a kiss onto my lips and my arms wrap around his shoulders, he breaks the contact that he has with my mouth and starts a soft trail of very light kisses down my neck as my eyes shut in pleasure for a moment, I feel his cool nose ring touch the nape of my neck. A shiver runs down my spine and I let out a small giggle as he smirks into my skin.

"I'm sorry for what did happen between you and Matt, Faith," Andy murmurs into my skin before he pulls back and our eyes meet each other once more. "I'm sorry you had to go through so much pain and neglect to let go of a loss. I'm sure it wasn't easy for you to recover from that and deal with Blaze's abuse on top of it. But I'm happy to know that I have the chance to see a little bit more into what makes my Faith who she is and what keeps you going as strong as you are today."

"Thank you, my Moonlight," I murmur as I rest my hand on the back of his neck, my fingers run through his short hair. "Don't ever be sorry for that piece of my past. When I look at you, the most wonderful, loving man that I'm so lucky to have in my life and I look at Blayde and the success that we have made together with our music, it reminds me that I shouldn't ever look back in the past. To always continue to stay strong and keep moving forward."

Andy lightly places a kiss onto my forehead and holds me close once more, sealing what I've told him between us.

After a while of just laying together, I get up and start making dinner for Andy and Blayde. After dinner, I take Blayde to bed and we just head upstairs to our room and we fall asleep in bed.

The following morning, I awake and when I do, I try to feel around for Andy and I don't feel him. I then sit up and I look over at Andy's side of the bed, I see that there's a bouquet of roses, a cute black teddy bear and a wrapped gift laying on his pillow and a note. I smile as I grab the box and the note, I unfold the note gently.

Good morning, my beautiful Faith. Happy Birthday, sweetheart. I'm sorry I'm not home at the moment smothering the hell out of you with birthday kisses and cuddling, but I had to get called into the studio early this morning and you were too adorable to wake up and bother. We're working hard on the next Black Veil record. But I promise you when I get home, I'll be sure to make it up to you.

What's in that box- is a special gift that I found when I was touring for the Andy Black record. I saw it in a store and I knew you had to have it, especially for those nights when you're on the road, you miss me and need a reminder that you're not alone and that I will always be there for you.

I hope you enjoy it. I hope the little bear will keep you company until I get home. I love you so fucking much, Lacey. Don't forget to tell the little ones that I love them too. I'll see you both in a few hours.

-Moonlight

I smile as I unwrap the present, I see a long black box- like one of those black boxes that you'd see at a jewelry store. I open up the box and inside is a beautiful bracelet, this bracelet is silver and what makes it different than all of my other jewelry is that the bracelet has pictures of the moon, from a crescent moon to a half moon and it changes into a full moon. It's absolutely beautiful. I gasp softly as I take the bracelet out of the box and my heart melts.

Only Andy would do these kinds of things. Only he would go out of his way to buy me a beautiful bracelet that has the different cycles of the moon to remind me that when I'm alone on tour, he's always there with me to guide me when it's rough. I then get out of bed, I grab the bear and the roses. I set the bracelet down on my vanity in the closet as I go to take a shower.

After I've showered, I walk into the closet and I change into a black vest top with light blue ombre fringes on it and a pair of black leather jeans with zippers on the front. I brush my hair and tease it to the side. I wear my crescent moon necklace, a pair of silver hoop earrings, my new bracelet, a silver cross ring and silver moon and star ring. I wear a pair of black high heeled boots that come up to my knee. I wear my normal black eyeshadow and red lip combo.

I then make my descent downstairs and I start making breakfast for Blayde after I call for her to get up. I then her soft footsteps walk downstairs, I see her blonde curls are ruffled from sleep and she sits down at the table.

"Happy Birthday, Momma," I hear Blayde say.

"Thank you, baby." I say. "Did daddy tell you that today is my birthday?"

"Yes. He did." Blayde yawns as she reaches for her orange juice and takes a sip. I finish flipping the pancakes and I put them on a plate after cutting them for Blayde to eat. She eats quickly and savors every bite. I laugh at her. After she finishes, she goes upstairs and waits for me to dress her. When she's dressed, she goes outside to play and she wants me to play with her. Which I do.

A few hours later, Blayde's exhausted and I call her in for lunch and she takes a nap in her room. I walk across to mine and Andy's room to start getting ready.

I hear the door open and close a while later and I hear footsteps coming up the stairs to our room. I smile as I walk into the closet to grab my dress for tonight. As my back is turned, I feel a pair of hands cover my eyes. I jump but I then realize that it's only Andy so I play along with his game.

"Guess who?" I hear a familiar deep voice whisper in my ear and I shiver against the body that's close to mine.

"Hmm. CC?" I ask and I then feel the hands move away from my eyes.

"Really, Faith? CC?!" I turn around and I meet the playful icy blue glare of my Moonlight. Andy is wearing his long sleeved gray buttondown shirt and has set his leather jacket aside when he walked in the door, he wears his skinny jeans and boots. I laugh at his reaction and he pouts at me, pretending to be hurt.

"Oh, Moonlight. I know that it's you. Your hands are the only hands that I know, trust and allow on my body." I tell him with a giggle as I lean to kiss his pouty lips to make him feel better. Andy then smiles at me and he pulls me close to him by my waist.

"Since you think CC's more worthy than I am to be with you," Andy says. "Looks like it's time I'd get you back for it."

I then notice the playful look in his eye and I squeal loudly as I run out of the closet with Andy behind me. Before I even knew, Andy had my back to the bed and my wrists gently pinned down to the mattress. I look up at him with a brow raised and that only made Andy do the one thing I didn't expect, which was tickle me. I started giggling as he tickled my sides.

"Light! Okay, okay! I surrender!" I say between giggles as he keeps tickling me and he starts chuckling too.

"I'll stop as long as you say that I will always be a better man than the rest of my brothers, Faith," Andy says.

"You'll always be a better man," I tell him. "Because you were the only one to be able to get me to fall in love with you."

He then smiles at my words and stops his tickling assault on me. He then lets go of my wrists as he lays back against the bed and pulls me into his arms so I end up sitting on his lap.

"That's right because no one else could ever love you as much as I do, beautiful," Andy murmurs as he nuzzles into me and presses a soft kiss on my lips before squeezing me to him. "Happy Birthday, honey. You mean so much to me."

I grin as I melt at his words before slipping my arms completely around his neck while his hands hold my waist.

"Thank you, my wonderful Moonlight," I whisper. "Also, thank you so much for the beautiful bracelet. It's an incredible present and I love it."

"You're very welcome, my love," Andy murmurs as he moves his fingers through my hair. "I'm so glad that you like it, baby."

I nod and kiss him softly on the lips as another thank you for being as sweet and thoughtful for going out of his way to give me a beautiful birthday present as he always does. His hand rubs my back before breaking the kiss we share.

"So, why don't you get ready so we can go?" Andy says and I nod, moving out of his arms and lap. I get off the bed and walk back over to our closet.

I then decide on wearing one of my Killstar dresses. I go through each dress on the rack until I decide on the Killstar velvet dress with the pentagrams on it. I then take off my clothing and slip into my dress. I wear some fishnet tights to keep warm in the cool weather and a pair of my high heeled black pumps. I curl my hair and put it up into a ponytail.

As I finish the final touches on my outfit and makeup, I start singing "The Forgotten" by Green Day. A song that has been stuck inside my head for quite a while. Right as I'm about to walk out of our closet, I see Andy leaning in the doorway with a soft smile on his face and his arms crossed. He must've heard me and I didn't even know until now. I then blush and look down. He lets out a soft chuckle before stepping closer to me. His fingers lift my chin up so our eyes meet each other's.

"Faith," Andy murmurs. "Don't be ashamed of your singing around me. I love when I can hear you sing."

"I'm not ashamed of it, Light," I tell him. "I didn't see you standing there. You caught me by surprise and you scared me."

He laughs softly and kisses my forehead before wrapping me in an embrace.

"I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to scare you," Andy says as he rests his chin on my hair. "I love hearing your voice. It's one of the many reasons why I enjoy having a home life with the woman I love."

He looks down at me and I move up to kiss him sweetly on the cheek before he takes my hand and we start heading out and Andy reassured me that Blayde would be taken care of so we could go out. We get inside the car and we take off. As Andy's driving, I just take a second to rest my head on his shoulder.

"Where are we going, Moonlight?" I ask. Andy smirks at me and shakes his head at me.

"That is for me to know and you to find out, my Faith," Andy tells me as I pouted at him. At least I tried. I thought as I move to look out of the window and I sigh as he kept driving. Eventually, Andy did bring the car to a stop and what I saw took my breath away. We're up on a mountain and are able to see the entire city of Los Angeles and the sun's beginning to set.

"Come on, love," Andy says as he steps outside of the car and opens up the door for me. I smile as I step out and I watch as Andy gets a blanket out of the trunk and a picnic basket and he takes me over to a bench that's near the cliff and overlooks the city.

"L-Light," I say. Andy looks at me with an amused glimmer in his eye as he slowly moves closer to me.

"Baby, nothing bad is going to happen to you," Andy murmurs as he lightly kisses my lips. "You can trust me. I know you can and you have. Now, come on."

I followed him so we're sitting on the bench, I slipped a couple of times due to my heels and Andy just chuckled and caught me each time it happened.

"Wow, it's beautiful from up here." I say and Andy nods at me as he starts unpacking the basket.

Inside I see that he had went to my favorite Italian place and got me my favorite meal and he got some red velvet cupcakes for later on. It made my smile grow because only he would be as romantic as he is.

"Before I even met or got together with you," Andy begins. "I used to come up here and work on lyrics. I wrote my favorite songs for Set The World On Fire from up here."

I can see why he got the inspiration, this view is incredible and you could see the glow of LA and can see every little detail- from the streets to the different buildings that lined up this city.

We started eating and we just talk, I love whenever Andy and I can escape from everything and just be together. After a while, he had to leave to take out the trash and left the cupcakes behind.

When he comes back, I notice he went to grab his lighter from the trunk. He sits on the bench with me, he moves so he can wrap the blanket around me. He picks up one of the cupcakes and lights one of the candles.

"Happy Birthday, my beautiful Faith. Happy Birthday to you." He sings in a loving tone before he speaks again, the candlelight making his crystal blue eyes shine. "I love you, my Lacey. I love you so much, I can hardly express how much your love means to me. I'm grateful that I get to have the chance to spend every day I can with you and I hope I can spend more by your side. Every year you grow more beautiful and stronger than you've ever been. And I'm lucky that I get to be the person who loves you in every single way."

My heart melts and I have to keep myself from falling face first onto the ground, Andy laughs softly as his free arm catches me by my waist and he places a soft kiss onto my temple.

"Go on now," He encourages. "Make a wish, sweetheart."

I slowly nod and I think about what I want to wish for and I blow the candle out. I then slip my arms around Andy's neck and he places it aside before holding me to his warm body.

"I love you too, Andy," I whisper. "Thank you for making my birthdays so special and I've never been more grateful to have such a wonderful man like you."

I feel him smile against me, he pulls back slightly and lifts my chin up with his hand before he kisses me. He kisses me slowly and gently and my fingers knot in his hair as his hand moves to cup my face.

The kiss that we share feels like an eternity and I'm in the most wonderful state of bliss and I don't ever want to leave this moment because it's too perfect. Andy pulls away from me and rests his forehead on mine before we start digging into the red velvet cupcakes.

After we eat them, I look over at Andy and he has a bit of cream cheese frosting smeared across his cheekbone. I start giggling at him because it's cute and he doesn't notice it yet until he raises a brow at me.

"What? What's so funny, Faith?" Andy says and I keep giggling at him before I lean in and with a quick swipe of my tongue, I lick away the excess frosting off of his cheek.

"Mmm. You're so sweet." I whisper against his skin.

"Am I, now?" Andy says with a smirk on his face. I nod against his shoulder as I rest my head on it. "Maybe I should show you just how sweet I can be."

I shiver at the sudden seductive change of sound in his voice.

"Maybe you should." I make my voice just as seductive as Andy's and I can see his eyes darken a little with lust and excitement as we pack up and head back to the house.

As soon as I walk in the door, I get pulled against the wall by Andy. I look into his eyes and he grins at me before giving me a soft but deep tender kiss.

My arms wrap around him as do my legs and he carries me upstairs to our room and locks the door.

He sets me down on the pillows and our lips meet each other's again, my hands travel down his shoulders and I could feel him sigh softly against my touch and lean more into it.

I shrug his leather jacket off his shoulders, leaving him with only his buttoned down shirt on. He breaks the kiss that we share as he reaches behind me and unzips my dress and takes it off of me. I shudder at the cool air on my skin as I lay in my black lingerie and that only makes Andy smile.

"Don't worry, love," Andy murmurs. "I'll always be sure to keep you nice and warm."

A smile comes across my face before he kisses me again and he unbuttons his shirt before tossing it aside, leaving him shirtless. My hands now have more room to roam, as they trace and explore each of his tattoos, before settling on his shoulders.

He unclasps my bra and lays it aside before lightly starting a trail of kisses from my lips down to my neck, my collarbones, the center of my breasts and to my stomach before coming up to my breasts.

He kisses them both and then takes one between his lips, I sigh and run my fingers through his hair and his other hand rubs the other breast. He then sits up a little bit and he takes off his jeans.

I smile as I make a gesture for him to come closer to me. He takes slow steps before slipping back into bed with me, he on top of me and he starts kissing me again, he deepens the kiss as my hands slide down his back.

He gently runs a hand along my waist before lifting up both of my hips so they slip around his waist. Our kiss continues before he pushes into me.

I gasp softly, breaking the kiss as we make eye contact with each other as he moves slowly but lovingly as my nails dig into the skin of his back. He lets out a soft groan but it's muffled in my skin as things get heavier.

I wake up in Andy's arms in bed with a fire going in our fireplace in our room to keep us warm, Andy's fingers running across my spine, his other tracing my tattoos and brushing back pieces of my hair from my face. He looks down at me with a slight boyish smirk when he notices that I'm awake and he presses a soft, tender kiss to my lips. I sigh into the kiss as my hand knots in Andy's hair.

"I'm so glad that you had an amazing birthday today, sweetheart," Andy murmurs as his hand cups my cheek.

"Yeah, I did," I whisper as I peck his lips. "I love you so much, Andy. Thank you."

"I love you too, Lacey. Anything for you, baby. You know that." His arms hold me to him tightly as I rest on his chest and fall back asleep as he sings.