49 Frank

That night, in an attempt to cheer Sapphire up, Gerard decided we were having a sleepover. I'm not kidding. A sleepover.

"Awww! Come on! We can watch chick flicks and eat popcorn and braid each other's hair and wear Powerpuff Girl PJS!" he cried, jumping up and down in excitement. "Please please please?" he begged. Sapphire looked at me with her eyebrow raised.

"Told you we shouldn't have let him have all those doughnuts…"

"It's the only way to shut him up," I shrugged, grinning and winding my hand around her waist.

"Come on, please? Fuck Tracy, let's have a sleepover!" he begged again, giving us the biggest puppy dog eyes I'd ever seen. Sapphire laughed, ruffling his hair.

"Aw, Gee, you're just too cute! Ok, I'm in!"

Gerard whooped and turned to me, repeating his eyes. I rolled mine.

"Ok, fine…just don't bring Titanic. I'll be crying for hours,"

We were hanging around the back of the CD shop, Gerard and Ray having come over to tease Mikey during his lunch break. I had my arm securely around Sapphire and she was gingerly sipping water, still shaking slightly. I squeezed her hip slightly and she smiled at me again, releasing all my fears. I could see in her smile she was fine.

"Ok, but promise us you and Blue won't get groinal on us!" warned Mikey, smirking. Ray laughed and Gerard did another face of innocence.

"What's groinal mean, Uncle Fwank?" he asked as I batted at Mikey.

"Sex, Gee, dear. Sex," answered Sapphire, grinning wickedly. Gerard pretended to be shocked, and then his boy-ish face broke out in a huge grin. Sapphire wriggled away from me, kissing my cheek and saying she was going to the lady's room. Probably just to clear herself up a bit.

"So, you two had sex last night, right?" asked Ray pretty much as soon as Sapphire disappeared. I flicked my head over to him.

"What?"

"It's obvious man, just tell us," grinned Gerard, sitting down on the ground and grinning at me.

"How's it obvious?" I demanded, growing hot.

"Well, you two haven't been able to keep your hands off each other all day, Sapphire didn't kill us over the word 'groinal', which is just not like her, you know how touchy she is over jokes in bad taste and shit. Oh, and you're walking funny,"

I shuffled my feet as Mikey and Ray howled in laughter.

"Am I?"

"Oh yeah!" laughed Mikey, leaning on the wall for support.

"So did you?" asked Ray, even though they already knew the answer.

"Yeah," I replied, grinning and flushing red. They whooped and I got pulled into a huge hug.

"Dude, you two are so fucking perfect, it's almost revolting!" laughed Gerard in my ear, squeezing me hard around my middle.

"So, she didn't freak out or anything?" asked Ray quietly, after they'd finally released me. We'd talked about the idea before, that Sapphire would freak if I ever put her in a position like Vince had done. It was one of the reasons I never pushed

"No, she was the one who kinda made it happen," I said sheepishly, grinning idiotically at the memory.

"What, she jumped you?"

"No, not like that, guys. Look, it doesn't matter. All that matters is we're in love and that's not changing, ok? Tomorrow morning, after Gerard's sleepover chaos, we're all driving down to Miami, aren't we?" I said, changing the question. I left the others talking about what to take and where to stop over for booze and shit like that, slipping inside to find Sapphire.

She was standing outside the toilet, resting her forehead against the cool tiles. Her hands were held out, palms flat. I silently came up behind her, my footsteps muffled. I wanted to reach out and touch her, but something made me stay there and watch her. With every breath her whole body rose and fell.

"Frank?" her voice whispered softly. I reached out and touched her shoulder.

"Sparkle," I whispered back. Her voice made my heart thump painfully in my chest, a heavy weight settle in my stomach. I wanted to take her away from the worries in her head. I wanted to save her.

"I'm…I think Tracy's serious. I think she's gonna try and get revenge on us," she whispered, turning around and leaning against the wall with her hands behind her back. I stood close to her, wanting to wrap my arms around her and soothe away every last fear. Why did I fell I couldn't? I hadn't felt like I couldn't touch her for weeks!

"We didn't do anything, he did it to us. If anything, she should be fearing our revenge," I snorted, trying to put aside my own fears. She looked down, and I saw one tear form on her lower lash.

"Oh baby…" I sighed, reaching out and dashing it away, stroking her cheek. Her beautiful eyes looked back up into mine and I saw real fear.

"I never want to feel like that again Frank. I never want to feel powerless, broken. Like I'm nothing," she said, leaning her face against my hand. It was all I needed, and took her in my arms and held her hard.

"You aren't nothing, you're everything to me. God, I wish I could do something…I wish you could see what I felt for you. Then you'd know how much I'd do for you, how much I'd sacrifice,"

She clung to my shoulders, burying her face in my shoulder. I felt tears smudge the material.

"I love you Frank, and I know how much you love me. She scares me. She looks like…" she didn't need to finish her sentence, I knew she was thinking of Him.

"We'll talk to your dad, see if we can get a restraining order or something. She comes near you, she's history. I promise," I whispered fiercely, stroking her soft fuzz of hair. She freed her head, smiling at me with her eyes. They glistened with tears she had yet to spill but I felt as if I'd spared her from every last tear.

"Thank you, Frank Iero. I love you," she told me softly, reaching up to stroke my fringe out of my eyes. I kissed her fingers and she leant up to kiss my lips softly. With every bit of shit we'd been through together, the love we shared together seemed even more precious. I'd never let this go. If anyone tried to take her away, I'd kill them.