Chapter Text
When you pulled up in front of the house, there was a light on in the living room despite the late hour. Gerard opened the door for you, the living room filling with crisp fall air as Mikey jumped up from his place on the couch as you walked in.
“Where the hell have you been?” he shouted before noticing how you were both dressed, looking back at the breaking news on the TV. “You did that didn’t you?”
“Mikey, listen,” Gerard started.
“You killed them! And you tricked them into shooting that Bob guy, Frank told us!”
“Would you shut up and let us explain?” Gerard shouted back. You didn’t know what to do or say, standing silently behind Gerard, wrapping his jacket tighter around yourself. Mikey’s mouth formed a tight line and his brow was furrowed, but he nodded and sat back down. Gerard began to explain your plan to draw Restoricom off the rest of them by taking off that night, how Brendon found you, and it was either following his plan, or continuing to run from Restoricom. He left out all mention of Sarah.
After hearing everything, Mikey nodded and sighed. “I’m sorry I blew up, I was worried. I didn’t know if I was gonna see you, either of you, again.”
“We couldn’t risk anyone else knowing,” you said quietly. “It could have compromised everything.”
“So, it’s over?”
Gerard nodded silently, and Mikey got up. “I haven’t slept in a week thanks to you two, so I’m going to bed. Welcome back.”
You sat down where Mikey had been sitting and let out a sigh. “We aren’t evil, right?”
“No Sugar, all we did was help Sarah do her job, and saved ourselves from being killed for what we are.”
You nodded listening to Gerard’s reassurance. He was right, you knew he was, but it was going to take time for it to sink in.
“Come on, let’s go to bed,” he said offering you his hand. You took it, following him up the stairs to the comfort of his familiar bed.
~
The next morning Gerard woke up, squinting his eyes against the sun that was beginning to shine through the crack of the curtains.
He instinctively reached out for you but felt nothing but the cold spot where you had lay the night before. He sat up and saw your phone was gone as well. He tried to regain his bearings as he looked around his room. The gown you wore the night before was draped carefully over his desk chair, your pajamas in a pile at the foot of the bed. Your bag in the corner looked like it had been dug through, but it didn’t look like you had left with no intentions of returning.
Gerard felt another wave of guilt wash over him. He had come to learn that when you had a lot on your mind, you isolated yourself and he knew you were dealing with your own feelings of guilt over last night’s events. It was his fault that you were dragged into this whole mess. He jumped into a plan without considering other options and the next thing you knew you were doing a favor for Death and the blood of a dozen corrupt men was on your hands. Gerard felt like he needed to make this right somehow.
He got up and decided to go check by the lake to see if that’s where you were. He expected to find the coffee maker running when he entered the kitchen, but he found it was still empty and cold.
“Hey Gee, where’s the car?” Mikey asked, his voice still thick with sleep as he shuffled into the kitchen.
“(YN), she must hav-” Gerard started, but was cut off by his phone buzzing in his pocket. “(YN) are you ok? Where are you?”
Mikey watched his brother’s face turned from concern, to shock, to sadness.
“Are you ok?” He paused, listening. “Ok, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“What’s wrong?” Mikey asked as Gerard ended the call and started rushing toward the door, grabbing his jacket.
“(YN)’s house was burned down the night before last, and the investigators are all over her. It’s got to have been Restoricom. I’m gonna go be with her.”
Mikey nodded, his head still spinning at the news since he still wasn’t completely awake. He watched as Gerard went out the front door and gracefully transformed into a crow and took off into the sky.
~
You were sitting on the curb staring at the ground, the smell of burnt wood hung in the air. Last night as you got ready for bed, you realized that in the commotion of the last few days, you phone battery had died. You plugged it in but left it off, not having the mental energy to look at it.
But once you were in bed, you couldn’t stay asleep, afraid if you closed your eyes of what you would see, whether it would be memories of what you had done, or what might lay ahead of you and you weren’t sure which scared you more. Before dawn, you decided to give up and pulled yourself out of bed. You turned on your phone and wandered downstairs as it started up.
Dozens of text message and voicemail notifications started to load and your heart began to race. You went to the text messages first, all from your landlord.
(YN), its Kenny, the police just called to report a fire at your place, are you ok?
(YN) I’m heading over to your house, I hope you’re ok!
(YN) you aren’t answering, I hope you are just busy, call me back as soon as possible!
(YN) investigators need to talk to you, get over here ASAP
(YN) your boss said you quit weeks ago with no notice, what the fuck is going on?!
You felt sick to your stomach as you listened to the voicemails from the police and your landlord. You had to get back there and deal with the wreckage. You raced back upstairs, changed clothes and grabbed Gerard’s car keys. You’d call once he was up.
Now you heard footsteps running up to you. “Hey Gerard,” you said without looking up.
“Are you ok Sugar?” he asked sitting down on the curb next to you.
“Yea, no, I don’t know,” you replied, tears stinging your eyes. “Everything I had that wasn’t at your place is gone. My car is destroyed, photos, heirlooms, everything,” you sniffled. Gerard wrapped his arm around you protectively and you rested your head against his shoulder and let all the tears fall. Gerard looked back over his shoulder at the smoldering remains, it was a total loss.
“Excuse me sir, are you Mr.. Gerard Way?”
“Yea, is there something I can do?” he asked looking up at the police officer. You felt a wave of panic wash over you, as you hadn’t gotten the chance to fill Gerard in on the story you had told them regarding your whereabouts.
“Where have you and Miss (YLN) been the last few days?”
“Up at his cabin, my phone died, and I forgot my charger! God, I already told you!” you jumped in before Gerard had a chance to respond.
“Miss (YLN),” the officer growled, frustrated that your outburst had just compromised his line of questioning. You burst out into hysterical sobs, throwing your face dramatically against Gerard’s shoulder.
“Officer, you cannot expect someone in her emotional state to be questioned like this,” Gerard said, knowing full well you were putting on a show.
“Is there anyone who can corroborate your whereabouts?”
“My brother, Mikey. I can give you his number. In the meantime, is it ok if I walk to the café around the corner and grab her a coffee?”
“Leave your phone,” the officer said. Gerard got up and pulled out his phone and gave the officer Mikey’s number.
“I’ll be right back Sugar,” he said pressing a kiss to the top of your head. You watched as he jogged around the corner and suddenly a falcon flew over, heading out of town rapidly.
You had let your sobs die down so you could overhear what the officer was saying on the phone. He had to leave a message because, just as Gerard suspected, his brother wouldn’t pick up for a number he didn’t recognize. A few minutes later Mikey called back. You could hear the officer ask him the same question that he posed to Gerard about your whereabouts.
“And where do you live sir? Oh, that far out of town. Ok, fair enough.”
A few minutes later Gerard reappeared, two coffees in hand. The officer came back and gave Gerard his phone.
“We reached your brother; he corroborated your account. You’re both free to go, we will be in touch when we find out more.”
You and Gerard made your way back to his car silently. The sun was fully up, and he could see just how tired you were, the darkest circles he’d ever seen under your eyes. You handed him back his keys and got in the passenger side.
“Sorry for stealing your car,” you said quietly.
“Its fine. Whatever you need, don’t ever hesitate to take,” he smiled wearily as he started the car. “Are you ok? Really?”
“I’m drained, but also kinda relieved. Like, it really, really feels over now. That whole chapter of my life is done,” you said taking a swing of your coffee then looked over at Gerard. “Thank you.”
He glanced back. “For what?”
“For helping me, for keeping me safe, for believing in me all along.”
Gerard smiled; weight lifted off his own heart a little hearing those words. “You don’t blame me for this?”
You scoffed. “Not for one second. You didn’t give me this ability. You didn’t create that division of Restoricom. You’re my light in all this.”
Words danced on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them back, instead reaching over and grabbing your hand as he drove home
“I was thinking I might throw a Halloween party,” Gerard replied after a while, breaking the silence.
You perked up. “Oh my God, is it really almost Halloween?”
“Yea, you don’t mind, do you?”
“Not at all, is my favorite,” you replied with a grin, your mood decidedly improved. This was exactly what you needed.