Short fic writing trip

Adoption fic 9

She's been here before. All those years ago, was this the same? Everything hurts and she can't recall getting to the hospital, just like last time. Maybe it was a dream, a memory resurfacing in a twisted nightmare she'd grown used to over the years.

But wasn't she alone last time?

If it was possible to melt her eyes from just opening them, she was sure hers would've. The piercing light of the sun felt like acid. So instead she kept them closed and listened intently to the environment, the beeping of her heart monitor, the chattering of nurses outside her door, the quiet drone of the TV on some random channel, and the shuffling of someone in the nearby visitor chair. She gave herself a few more moments before trying to lift her eyelids again, as they'd become like lead since the last time. Her effort was rewarded with a slightly less harsh awakening to the world, and she was able to see who was before her.

She had to still be dreaming. Why else would Frank be here? How did he even know where she was? Wasn't she at the ven- oh.

Frank must've been the one to find her, and now it wasn't just her body that ached. Her soul weighed heavy with guilt, had he missed the festival for her? Did she scare him or cause him a lot of issues with whoever was in charge? She should've just ran to anywhere else, why did she think the venue was a good place to hide? Her inner monologue began to spiral until she saw the look of utter relief that washed over Frank as he stood to come closer to her.

"Thank god, you're awake, I didn't know if you'd even wake up, are you okay? I mean besides getting the shit beat out of you, what happened to you?" His words sputtered out in an anxious rush, not unlike her own words the first time she met him. She tried to shift into a more comfortable position, but the aching turned to pointed pain and she all but flopped back down, now even less comfortable.

"Woah woah woah, watch it there kid, don't hurt yourself more," his arms slightly outstretched as if to catch her, "the bed remotes right here, if you want to try and sit up."

She accepted and waited until the bed had risen enough that it wouldn't be much of a strain to get back to her original position, then just settled for that and let her body rest again.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have a show to play?" She croaked out.

Frank's face fell a little, before coming back up to a sympathetic smile, "Don't worry, I waited until after our set to come. But it was quite the shock to get there and find you all beaten up like that, so I had to make sure you were alright."

"Well I'm alive at least, I'll get back to you on the 'alright' part." She huffed a tiny laugh, flinching a little at the ache it caused.

"Kid," Frank looked so concerned she was worried he'd start crying, "what on earth happened to you?"

She should've expected to get questioned like this, that's what the police and social workers did when she woke up from the crash, at least from what she remembered of it. But just because she should've expected it doesn't mean she didn't find herself struggling to speak.

A long minute passed with no words, until she drew a deep breath and tried to recount the prior night's events.

"I left a little early, with the majority of the crowd. I figured you were probably getting a little sick of me, so I didn't stick around to try and find you. Not that I had much to say that I hadn't already, but still. I made my way back, hoping to crash out and get up early to see the full line up for today, but the window I snuck out of was locked, and I know I'd left it unlocked. I was going to try the back kitchen door but Ms. Harrowood found me. She-" her sight became blurry as tears began to well up despite her protest. "She said that the reason everything was so shitty for her was because of me, that all the kids listen to me and not her, and I was a bad example, I made it harder for them to get adopted. I was, am, a bad sister. And she was just so angry about it all. I knew she was strong enough to swat a ruler over your knuckles or spank you with a paddle, but how was I supposed to know she wouldn't break a hip if she wanted to curb stomp someone with a cane? Lady looks to be damn near 100 years old, but she beat me like she was 37. I thought-" finally the tears slipped past her eyelids and she couldn't stop even if she wanted to. "I needed somewhere safe and far away from her. The venue was just the first place I thought of. I'm so sorry about all of this." She began sobbing and no matter how strong her shame was to be crying so hard in front of Frank, her grief was stronger. Her confusion was stronger still when she felt a warm embrace wrap around her shaking frame. They stayed like that for what felt like hours, until a light knock came at the door.

"Oh good you're awake! I'm just checking vitals, I'll only be a minute." A cheery nurse rang as she dabbled with the equipment and drew some blood from her IV. As she promised, she was out in a blink of an eye. She would've paid money to know what was going on in her head despite the cheery exterior. She was sure a sobbing, beaten patient being held by a member of a world renowned band was quite the sight. She sat herself back against the bed and tried fruitlessly to dry her eyes.

"This really is gonna be quite the icebreaker, huh?" She chuckled, and Frank joined her.

"Indeed it will." He looked solemnly at her, like he wanted to know more but couldn't bring himself to ask in case the answer was too sad. A buzz hummed from his side and he opened his phone to check the notification, and his eyes widened a little. "Shit, hey, I know you just woke up so I figure I should tell you now before they show up, but the other band mates are stopping by to drop off some food. If you're not ready for that I can just meet them in the lobby and grab it. They'll probably be curious about all of this, so they'll ask questions. Which, y'know what, you need rest, not being bombarded with shit, so I can just meet them-"

"Let them in." She blurted out before she could think it though. Did she want to meet the rest of her favorite band? Yes. Like this? No, but when else was she going to get the chance? She just hopes she can keep herself together a little better.

Frank snapped his mouth, which had stayed open to continue his sentence before she interrupted him, shut and gave a quick nod, returning to his phone to send a response. She tried again to dry her eyes and face fully and took some deep breaths.

"Ok, I let them know where to go, are you sure about this?" She nodded, "ok, well they should be here in a few minutes." Frank turned to the TV and grabbed the remote. "Lets see what else is on, the news is boring. Oh, did you ever hear of that case of the guy who broke himself out of a coma because he hated Barney so much after the TV played one too many reruns of his purple ass?"

She gave him such a firm look of no, what the fuck? that he laughed and launched into an explanation, TV forgotten in the mean time. She listened intently, laughing at bits with Frank as he embellished some of the details, and fell into easy conversation until they heard a knock at the door.

In the doorframe stood not the remainder of famous emo band My Chemical Romance, but 3 of the most awkward, gangly, and grungy looking guys she's ever seen. When they were out of their Danger Days gear, they looked so frighteningly normal, minus Gerard's vibrant red hair. She could almost be convinced this was just a group of college guys looking out for a fellow friend of theirs, instead of some lost kid and a superstar band.

"Hey," Gerard started off sheepishly, "we got the food, did end up going to Mcdonalds." In response to that, Mikey and Ray held up the bag of food and drinks respectively. The absurdly normal interaction was it, she couldn't help herself, and she started laughing. Everyone's eyes flew to her, but she couldn't stop even if she wanted to. It was one of those things that were so not funny that you just couldn't stop laughing at.

"Uh, kid?" Frank asked, a little of her laughter coursing through his voice as well, "you good? What's so funny?"

She tried to calm herself and breathe, which only led to more laughter, and before long Frank had joined her. The other three were still too confused to laugh as well, but their demeanors eased from their initially tense and unsure state. Finally, after what felt like ages, she was able to calm herself enough to explain herself.

"Sorry, it's just-" a chuckle bubbled in her throat that she had to fight to keep down, "it's just you guys look so normal, and the little gesture with the food, you two did that perfectly in sync and it just got to me. Sorry, that was probably an absolutely psychotic introduction, just laughing for like 5 minutes straight as soon as you got here. I promise I'm not that crazy usually." She heard Frank mumble an additional "usually" and instinctively smacked his arm like she would any of her kids at the orphanage. She froze, but Frank's laughing eased her that it wasn't a wrong move. She was shocked at how easily she sank into casualty with him, as if he was just Frank instead of Frank Iero. It was an odd sense of whiplash, flinging between the two identities. That same feeling settled over her when she saw the others start laughing at the interaction as well and began handing out each others orders when Mikey complained "can we eat yet?"

"We didn't know what to get you," Ray handed her a box and cup she was surprised to see be offered to her, "hope you don't mind nuggets and coke."

"Personally I prefer heroin, but this works." She joked and caused Gerard to nearly shoot his soda out of his nose, which caused the whole room to grow bright with laughter again.

Maybe this was exactly how she wanted to meet the rest of the band after all.