Cooper's Children's Home - New Beginnings // BradGa

O N E

Bobby held both of his thumbs up in her direction once the backing track of her latest single stopped and took off his own bulky headphones. "That sounded great! We'll go through it once more, but I think that's it. Five minute break!" He announced.

Gaga nodded and sat down, downing a small bottle of water before getting back up to stretch a bit. "My back is killing me ever since I got back to work! It's honestly terrible." She complained, cracking the bones in her neck. Bobby shot her a disgusted look.

"Stop doing that. You'll end up breaking something one day!" He said, chuckling when she stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm glad you're starting to cheer up again. You've been annoying these past three weeks." He rolled his eyes at the memory.

"It's been three weeks already? Damn." She mumbled, twirling around in her spinning chair. "You know, I think it was for the best."

"Think what you wanna think, Gaga. I think it was just you being a pussy." He teased.

"Think what you wanna think, Bobby." She mocked him, rolling her eyes.

••••

"Natali, stop being up my ass." Stefani tried to escape her little sisters invasive questions by hiding her head in the cool fridge, trying to find something to eat.

"You've been weird ever since you got back and you won't talk to me about those three months! It's like they didn't even exist." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and tried to close the door of the large refrigerator, so Stefani would look at her.

Stefani bumped her head on the door, held it and glared at Natali who just shrugged. "It's because I hated it okay? I hated every damn second inside of that stupid hell hole with those dirty, screaming monsters and their stupid temporary father or whatever the fuck he is to them. That's it. I don't want to talk about them again." She grabbed a large jar of pickles and slammed it on the counter, immediately starting to try and open it. She knew that was a terrible lie and that the truth was that she couldn't think about them and those three months without wanting to cry and never see daylight again. It was true, she didn't talk about it because pretending that it never happened was much more convenient than having to live with the fact that she couldn't be the person she wanted to be in that moment. She didn't have the strength to deal with her emotions. The release of the album was stressful enough.

Natali laughed and shook her head. "You've never been a good liar." She paused, watching Stefani struggle with the jar. "Let me help you with that." She groaned, opening the jar for her big sister.

"I'm not lying." Stefani pointed one of the pickles at Natali before biting into it. "Nothing happened. I just lost tons of time that I initially planned on spending on the album. Now I have to finish everything two times faster and it's extra stress and less free time for me." She rolled her eyes.

She missed every single one of those kids and she missed Bradley terribly. He tried to call and text her ever since she got back to her normal life, but she couldn't even think of what she wanted to say to him. Just continuing where they left off felt odd to her, so she pushed him away. It was what she was good at after all: making people hate her in the end. The Lady Gaga special.

"Since when do you even like pickles? Didn't you say they make you gag?" Natali raised an eyebrow while Stefani stuffed her face with the green food.

"Really? That's all you got from what I said?" She asked, closing the jar again. "I don't know, I suddenly started craving them last week. They're not that bad actually." She answered.

"You're awfully weird and I'll find out why." Natali mumbled when Stefani walked out of the kitchen again, to lock herself into her room.

••••

"Gaga, can you get a grip? You've been awfully moody today! It's not my fault your voice sounds like that." Bobby rolled his eyes. Sarah raised an eyebrow at her fighting friends. The tension inside of the room was almost unbearable at this point and she'd never seen them both so frustrated with each other.

"It's your fault that you're this fucking annoying, Bobby! Can you leave me the fuck alone for two seconds?! I told you I was fine! I need to warm up and I'll be out in ten." She adjusted the mic on herself and pulled the top up a bit further to make sure her breasts stayed covered.

"You look sick, Gaga. I don't want you to pass out on stage. Imagine the press' reaction to it!" He complained, watching her fiddle with the outfit while she looked in the mirror.

She hadn't felt well the past two days and got dizzy, passed out, experienced more chronic pain than usual but she was used to her body failing on her and it didn't phase her or worry her as much as it worried Bobby. She was used to pushing the pain aside to give her fans a good show because she didn't want to disappoint anyone, let alone her fans that meant the world to her. "Yeah, just imagine the press' reaction! Do you even care about me or is it just about the press now?" She asked, angrily sipping on her Red Bull while she checked the time. "I'm on in two minutes. Sarah, can you check on my lipstick again?" She asked, trying to blur out Bobby.

"That's not true at all! I love and care about you, Gaga. But it's hard to get through to you these days and I don't know how I'm supposed to help if you won't talk to anyone!" He threw his hands up when she ignored him and stomped out of the room to leave the girls alone.

"Are you really okay?" Sarah asked her, making Stefani angrily turn towards her with a raised finger.

"I swear to god, Sarah. If you start with me like Bobby, I'll fire all of you and get a new team." She growled.

Sarah shook her head at her friend and gently touched up her lipstick. "I don't know what the fuck happened to you, but pushing everyone away won't help. You'll only end up alone." She stated, getting worked up with Stefani's behavior towards everyone.

"Maybe that's what I want: to be left the fuck alone." She growled back, crossing her arms over her chest with a roll of her eyes. "I have to go. Calm Bobby down until I get back, yeah?" She asked.

Despite being mad and confused Sarah still nodded with a smile on her face. She loved Stefani more than anything and knew that this was her way of coping with things sometimes. They just had to be patient with her and support her as best as possible. She'd break eventually.

Short first chapter. Natali made an appearance! I'll include her fam more and give y'all a bit more background info on their past and family stories.