Book Wørm (Frank Iero AU)

Me.

I wake up and look at the clock in the car,
4:33am it reads.
"Frank, where are we?"
"New York" he hops out of the truck and walks to the extravagant hotel, leaving me again, making me jog to catch up with him.
He drops the two bags we brought into the room and goes right into the bathroom, where I hear the shower turn on moments later. I sit on the fluffy bed, much like the one in the Borgata and think about these crazy past weeks, rubbing my forehead, when my thoughts are cut short by Frank's voice, saying "Chance" from the shower. I get up and peek my head in the bathroom door, "wanna come in?" He asks, peeking around the shower curtain with his long hair dripping wet.
"But you're mad at me" I respond. He makes a little 'scrunchy' face, "no I'm not! Come on" then shuts the shower curtain. I get undressed and into the shower with him, where he pulls me in and embraces me under the water.
"I'm sorry for how I acted" he mumbles.
"That was me, I'm Frank now, your Frankie" he grins.
"What do you mean, 'me'?" I look at him, confused.
"I just get in a certain mindset when I do violent things, that is kind of 'me' like that's who I am..but you make me better, you make me Frankie."
He's just confusing me, but what he's saying seems to make perfect sense to him.
"Frank??" I look confused.
"Are you okay?" I laugh.
"Yeah, I'm fine baby" he chuckles, embracing me, "don't worry about it, okay? You'll just figure it out"
We go to bed pretty early in the morning, happy that he's holding me under the sheets again, showing me that he loves me.
• • •
"Where are we going today?" I ask, the mood in the car this morning extremely cheery.
"We're gonna visit an old friend of mine, while we're in the neighborhood" Frank answers as he turns into a really nice development of legitimate mansions.
"Here?! I should have dressed better.." I start to get worried.
"No, no! It isn't like that. You're beautiful"

We head up to the huge house, Frank rings the doorbell as I squeeze his hand tight from uncertainty.
A middle aged woman answers the door, in utter shock at seeing Frank, she yells his name excitedly, then they slam into each other, hugging like a mother and son that haven't seen each other in years.
"It's been quite awhile!!" She holds his face with her hands, almost having tears appear in her eyes as she looks into his.
"And who's this?" She grins at me.
"This is my fiancée" Frank smiles.
"Oh!" The lady yells again, hugging me tight.
"This is wonderful, oh I'm so happy for you Frank, oh my god, come in guys" she opens the door for us and we walk in, where I'm utterly amazed at her home.
"Your house is beautiful!" I smile at her.
"You're so sweet, it's nothing though" she laughs as she heads into the large kitchen.
"Make yourselves at home, Frankie! You know where the sitting room is!"
"Come on" he grins and takes my hand, leading me to a large library, almost like the one back at Frank's house, but even larger, with dark wood and leather furniture.
The woman brings in coffee for Frank (without even asking him what he wanted) and a small coffee and tea pot on a tray with sugar and honey for her and I to choose from.
They talk for awhile while I just listen, trying to catch up.
"This is Liz, I've known her since I was nineteen"
Nineteen? You think. Wasn't that a year after he..
"She's almost like my mom, we're really close" she smiles at him like she's proud of him.
"So! Dates! Do you guys have a date for the wedding yet??"
"Oh god no" I laugh
"I haven't even started planning, we don't even have a ring yet!" I hold up my hand.
"Hmm. Well. We're gonna have to fix that!" Liz grins as she sips her cup of tea.
"It must have been, what, three years since I've seen you last Frankie?"
He nods, "three years, last time I came up I was twenty three"
"Wooowww" she whispers.
"Well I'm thrilled to see how life's turned out for you, I love this progress"
"How was he like back then?" I ask.
She exhales, looking at Frank for approval, he nods, then speaks up, "she was uhh, my psychiatrist."
"I was having a really rough time when I was around nineteen" Liz nods as he explains, looking off into space like she remembers clearly how he used to be.
"You know, losing my dad to a freak fire incident while camping to losing my mom to suicide a week later, after she ran away..it took a toll"
He's lying.
You grab his hand, "I know it was hard. It would be for anyone."