In A Heartbeat

"Ave? Avery, open your eyes for me, baby."

Nikki's voice registered in my head and I realized that he was home and beside me. I felt myself relax a bit knowing that he was with me now. Nikki had always been able to comfort me. Sometimes just hearing his voice could make everything better no matter what the situation was.

I opened my eyes and immediately shut them. I quickly realized that I was not at home. For one, no lights in my house were that bright, and for two, my walls weren't a blinding shade of white. And there sure as hell wasn't a doctor waiting by my bed to shine a light in my eyeys as soon as I opened them.

"Fuck off." I mumbled. I heard Tommy laugh.

"How's your head feeling, Avery?" The doctor asked.

"Fine until you fucking blinded me."

"Sorry about that. You seem to be okay. Just a slight concussion. You might not want to try having sex though for a week or two."

"That definitely won't be a problem."

Nikki and Tommy laughed.

"Okay, well, we're going to watch you for a little while longer and then let you go. I'll be back shortly."

"Okay."

I sat up slowly in the bed, the soreness hitting me pretty hard. I fought it though and got comfortable. Nikki was standing up beside the bed and Tommy was sitting on the other side smirking at me. I smiled back weakly and looked up at Nikki who was looking down at me.

"I want to know what the hell you were doing walking home." He said.

"I want to know why the hell I'm in a hospital after telling Mac and Harley not to bring me."

"I told them too. They told me you said not to bring you and I told them to bring you anyway. So don't be mad at them. Now, what were you doing walking home?"

"Gerard woke up and had a problem with a random girl hanging around. We had an argument and I just left."

"How did Matt know you were coming that way?" Tommy asked.

"I guess he saw me walking and stopped. I was walking with my head down so I wouldn't have seen him."

"That motherfucker better hope I don't see him."

"Me either." I agreed.

"What are you going to do? Let him rape you again?" Nikki asked.

"Fuck you, Nikki."

"I should probably let the girls know that you're okay. They were pretty worried."

He walked out and I turned to look at Tommy. He smiled again, but I didn't return it. Nikki's little comment was playing in my head and quite frankly, it pissed me off. I could have easily kicked Matt's ass, but I had dropped the ball.

"Ignore him, Avery. You know he's a smartass." Tommy said.

"Yeah. He still pisses me off sometimes though."

"I know. He's your brother. He's suppose to."

"Hey, Ave."

I turned away from Tommy to face Mac and Harley. They both had a baby in their arms and I couldn't help but smile. I think they both relaxed a little upon me smiling. I wasn't mad at them by no means. They had done what was best for me.

"Thank you. Both of you." I said.

"Don't thank us. Thank Nikki. Otherwise, you would be at home in your bed. I didn't want you kicking my ass." Mac said.

I laughed. "I wouldn't have kicked your ass, Mac. May I?"

"Be my guest." She said laying one of the twins down in my arms.

"Which one is this?"

"Kayden." Harley answered.

"Tommy, don't you want another kid?" I asked him.

"Hell no."

"You're a lying sack of shit too."

"So you're feeling okay, Avery?" Harley asked.

"I'm pretty sore, but yeah, I'm okay. Thanks to you guys. So, uh, how is everything else?"

"Frankie was able to talk some sense into him, thank god. It was about time that he realized some things that no one wanted to tell him. This morning was a perfect chance for Frankie to talk to him and I think he got through to him. He needs to apologize to you."

"No, he doesn't. Just let it be. He didn't know." I said patting Kayden's back.

"How can you say that after the way he treated you?" Mac asked.

"Because it could have been any of us. I'm not forgiving him for what he said and did, but I'm not going to fuel the fire either."

"How much would you charge for anger management classes? Harley would like to enroll."

Harley glared at her making us all laugh. I was released from the hospital about thirty minutes later. I said goodbye to Mac, Harley, and the twins and Nikki and Tommy helped me out to the car. They were acting like I was dying and it was getting annoying.

As soon as we got home I showered to get the hospital smell off of me while Nikki cleaned up a bit. Once I was through, he left to go get food for us. Tommy was in his room talking to his boys so I slipped down to the basement where my punching bags were. I put my gloves on and went at the heaviest bag, promising myself that should this happen again I would be ready.

"Avery, what the hell are you doing?"Nikki asked from the foot of the stairs.

"Boxing, dumbass."

"No shit, smartass. You need to be resting. Get your little Rocky Balboa ass back upstairs and eat. I've got Saw in the dvd player. You can box tomorrow after a good night's sleep."

"Fine."

I took my gloves off and threw them down in defeat. I followed him back upstairs and found Tommy already eating away at a mountain of pizza. I fixed my plate and sat down for Saw, though I didn't pay attention to much of it. Even after everything that had happened today, Gerard was still on my mind.