(A.N. Hello, lovely readers. My, it is good to be writing this again! After a little break I have stocked up on some chapters and am very much ready to go! I think for now I'll just upload about a chapter a week, maybe more. I know when finals come around in a few weeks there will most likely not be any updates for any of my stories. Then summer will be here and what I will kindly refer to as three months of non-stop writing will begin. So there's that to look forward to! X3

Also, before I lose your attention, maybe peek around my favorite stories list. There are a lot of good writers in there that deserve your beautiful reviews!)

Disclaimer: I do not own My Chemical Romance. I only saw them live on April 15, 2011. It was the greatest night of my life, but I digress. All O.C.s belong to their creators.

"Staring at her all day isn't going to make anything better."

"Shut up."

Fun Ghoul and Jet Star sat in silence. They were in a small room-formerly Ghoul's room-bright sunlight leaking through the thin, dusty drapes. The room was cluttered, clothes and magazines littering the floor and piled in corners. The desk in the corner was cluttered with papers and books. A small ceiling fan hung over them, but it hadn't worked in years. On the bed in front of the two lay a girl. Fifteen years old, her wild brown curls spread around her face and on the pillow her head rested on. Diamond Dahlia's face was peaceful. It looked as though she were sleeping, rather than in a near-comatose state for a month.

Ghoul just stared. He rarely left her side, only to eat and sleep if he was that exhausted. He was just now running on three hours of sleep and was getting extremely worried as he eyed the IV drip in Diamond's arm. Thank god a few months back Pony had gotten the idea to raid a passing BLI medical care truck. They'd gotten enough supplies to take care of any injury, and had stocked up in case the worst would happen. The drip was what was keeping Diamond alive until her body could do that itself, but they were running out. There weren't any med truck passing along the highway anymore, the Zone 8 stretch of Route Guano was abandoned aside from the occasional troupe of Killjoys passing through every week or so.

Jet sighed. He felt for his friend, he really did, but Ghoul practically starving himself at the girl's bedside wasn't helping anyone.

"Ghoul, I'm only trying to-"

"To what? Help?"

"Yeah, I guess. I just don't want to see you sit here like a vegetable all day."

"Jet," Ghoul looked at his friend, sorrow and exhaustion in his eyes, "I couldn't leave her if I tried."

Jet Star nodded. It was true; Diamond, for all intents and purposes, was Ghoul's daughter. He, before her eyes closed, had promised her everything would be okay. That she would wake up. That she would be safe.

For the most part Ghoul had kept his promise. She was as safe as ever, in a diner full of Killjoys. But she still hadn't woken up, and Ghoul wanted to keep that part of his promise most of all.

Party Poison admired his new hair color.

"I can't believe you found dye all the way out in the desert!"

Kobra Kid smiled down at his brother, who was now running his fingers through his bright red hair, a small mirror in his hand. Party's hair had grown a bit and now hung in his eyes again. He was glad he could get rid of the black, it didn't suit him like it had so many years ago. Red was always his favorite color.

"It wasn't easy."

"I'm sure it wasn't, but that only makes it more awesome."

They were in the main room of the diner. Party was sitting in one of the booths, Kobra standing behind him. Missle Kid and Show Pony sat in the large corner booth across the room from them, playing cards.

"It looks great!" said Missle, looking up from her hand.

"Way better than black." Pony agreed.

Party beamed up at Kobra through the mirror. Kobra smiled, slightly wary. He knew this was another way from Party to pretend the events of the past month had never happened. Though, from the deep scars on Kobra's stomach, not to mention the scars on Diamond's leg, arms and side, Party knew it was going to take a lot to put the past behind them. After a good month of painful drug withdrawal and regaining most of his memory, Party's body seemed to be nearly his again. Kobra couldn't be happier about that; his brother was almost back to his old self.

At first it had been hell. He had been jittery, irritable, wracked with pain and guilt about what he'd done as details came back to him in the middle of the night. At first he'd thought the dreams were nothing, then, once Kobra got him to talk about it, he'd realized the dreams were memories resurfacing. He would still have them sometimes, new memories coming into his mind. Most were happy memories; of childhood, of the band, of goofing off with his friends. But then came the inevitable: the dreams of his lost family. His wife. His daughter. Kobra still remembered the first one, and sometimes it was all Party could think about.

It was almost two dreams in one. He was on stage, doing what he loved. By the end of the set the hot stage lights had drenched him in sweat, but he didn't care. He loved it.

"So long and goodnight…thank you guys! You've been fucking awesome! Goodnight!"

The band left the stage quickly. He felt himself tense, his nerved acting up at what he was about to do. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at Mikey, smiling wide.

"You ready for this?"

He grabbed a towel and wiped his face, rubbing off the smeared eyeliner.

"Yeah…" he replied weakly, "I guess."

They made it backstage. A woman sat on the couch, in a nice white t-shirt and black skinny jeans. Her black hair was tied back, in a messy up-do. When she noticed him her face broke into a beautiful smile and she stood up. Ray was next to her, a small stack of papers on his hand. He too smiled.

"Are you sure this is legal?" he asked Ray as he took the woman's hand, smiling back nervously.

"Perfectly legal." Ray smiled wider and shook the papers in his hand, "All you have to do is sign these and give them to the nearest state's attorney."

"So all we have to do is sign?"

"Technically yes…but where's the fun in that?"

"Ray…"

Ray ignored him. Instead he turned to Bob who, in typical Bob fashion, had appeared out of nowhere. "Get Frank, and tell him to bring the book." Bob nodded and walked away.

"Ray, what the hell are you-"

"Just go with it." He turned to the woman who had spoken. Her kind eyes calmed him and he felt himself unable to stop smiling back.

"You know I can't resist when you smile at me like that."

"That's the idea." She smiled and stepped closer, pressing her soft lips to his for a moment.

"Alright, fine. I'll go with it." She laughed and stepped back, still holding his hand. Frank, Bob and Mikey showed up. Frank was holding a large book, which he handed over to Ray. Ray cleared his throat and opened to book to a page marked with a bright pink Post-It note.

"Dearly beloved…" he began with a dramatic wave of his hand. Everyone groaned except for the woman. She just laughed.

Vows were exchanged. Promises to love each other as long as they lived were made. Amongst claps and cheers they slipped on rings and kissed before turning to sign papers.

They set their pens down in unison and turned to each other, making eye contact before kissing again, this time with a bit more force.

"Gross!" Mikey laughed from the corner of the room, "Save it for the honeymoon!"

It was then that the dream had shifted. He was in a hospital room. The same woman was now laying on the bed, screaming in pain. One of her hands clutched his, the other rested on her swollen stomach.

"I changed my mind!" she gasped, "Give me the damn meds!"

"Too late now sweetie," a nurse patted her head, "You wanted natural birth, you got it. Now push, you're doing wonderful."

She met his eyes in a very "You-Did-This-To-Me-Now-Do-Something-Or-I-Swear-To-God-I-Will-Murder-You-Without-A-Second-Thought" way but he just looked scared. There was little he could do.

The rest was a blur. He was pretty sure he almost fainted a couple times but within what felt like minutes he was holding a baby girl.

Everything was calm. It was just them in the room. It was nighttime, and the small lamp in the corner cast a warm glow on everything. He was in a chair, she still lay on the bed. Their heads were close together, both were looking at the baby.

"Bandit." The woman breathed.

"She looks just like you." He smiled, studying the face of his little girl. At that moment her eyes opened and she looked at him with bright hazel eyes. His eyes.

"She recognizes her daddy." The woman laughed softly.

He felt his heart swell. Daddy. He could get used to being called that.

And then he woke up, confused and strangely sad.

Kobra would have to explain later that that was his wife, LynZ, and their child, Bandit. Remembering them, and their deaths, had sent Party into a depression Kobra had only seen since their actual deaths. He didn't eat, he barely slept, he just stayed in his room; trying to both remember and forget.

But the sadness had faded quickly, replaced with grim acceptance.

Jet stepped out of Ghoul's room, knocking Party and Kobra out of their thoughts. He sat down at Pony and Missle's game.

"Deal me in." he said grimly.

"How is she?" Missle asked.

"Not better, not worse."

"How's he?" That came from Kobra.

"How do you think? He still won't leave her, and I don't blame him for that, but sitting in that room all day is doing absolutely nothing."

"Well he refuses to come out, so what do we do?" Kobra looked at the door to Ghoul's room.

"Let him be." Party said, setting down the mirror and sliding out of the both to sit by Jet. Kobra followed and sat next to Party.

"She'll wake up eventually." Said Missle, dealing Party and Jet in, "Do you want in?" she looked at Kobra.

He shook his head, "I'll just watch."

"You can help Pony make it less obvious he's cheating." Missle smirked.

"Hey! I am not cheating!"

"You totally are." Jet laughed, "I just saw you peek at Missle's hand when she wasn't looking."

"You lousy cheat! I knew it!"

"You looked at her cards, too!"

"Really Jet? Grow up!"

"I did not! You're going to take his word over mine?"

"At this point, I don't know."

"Um, guys? Can we just play?"

"Stay out of this, Party."

Party sat back and looked over at his brother, who just smiled at the bickering Killjoys.

(A.N. Because this is the first day of this fic, I think I'll give you two more chapters. Please rate and review if you want this to keep going!)