Who are you?...Who am I? (RE-WRITE!)

The next morning, Frank and Gerard were woken by a knock on their hotel room door. Gerard stayed in the bed, trembling slightly under the covers as Frank went to answer it. Yawning and rubbing his hand over his face, absently noting that he needed a shave, Frank opened the door to see the two detectives who were in charge of Gerard’s case now.

"Good morning Mr. Iero..."

"Frank, please."

The detective nodded and smiled politely.

"Ok, Good morning Frank. I’m sorry if we woke you, but we have some news. Can we come in?"

Frank looked back at Gerard, who nodded softly, the blankets pulled up nearly to his nose. Frank smiled gently at the younger boy before turning back to the detectives and nodding, opening the door more to let them in.

"Come in, I'll just grab a shirt..."

He wasn’t bothered that he was naked from the waist up, but he knew that not everyone was comfortable with it. He grabbed a random shirt from their bag and pulled it on, then climbed onto the bed next to Gerard, pulling him carefully into his side.

"Ok, so...news?"

The older of the two detectives, a large man with prematurely white hair and a bushy moustache that still held onto its original ginger colour, cleared his throat before he began.

"The man we arrested two months ago, Charles Redwood...we’ve had to release him."

Gerard whimpered and Frank held him closer, stroking his hair to calm him.

"Why?..."

Frank demanded.

"He confessed. It was him who took Gerard."

The detective shook his head.

"We thought so too. It turns out that for the first three years that Gerard was missing, Mr. Redwood was actually in a mental institution in Wyoming...only about three miles from the hospital that Gerard ended up in. We’ve got confirmation that he was there just over six months before Gerard was taken too."

"But...his prints were on the photos!...he gave details!"

Again the detective shook his head.

"We questioned him again. He’s on medication now and he’s a lot more stable and lucid than when we talked to him before, and he remembers meeting a guy in a bar. The guy was wearing gloves. He gave him the photos and told him a story about abducting a young man with black hair, then took back the photos. Mr. Redwood was off his meds at the time and from what the doctors are telling us, he likely took the story as a memory. He was not involved in your abduction Gerard, I’m sorry."

Gerard sobbed slightly, burying his face into Frank’s shoulder as he shook. Frank sighed, holding him close.

"Where is he now?"

"Back in the institution, getting the help he needs. Unfortunately he couldn’t give us anything on the man from the bar though, he just can’t remember."

"So..."

Frank said with an exhausted sigh.

"We’re back to square one?"

"I’m sorry. We’re going back over every bit of evidence we have and we’re going to question Mr. Redwood again...but as of right now, yes, we’re at square one again. I really am sorry."

Frank could feel a headache coming on, he could also feel Gerard shaking badly against his side. He pressed a kiss to the top of the boy’s head as he ran his hand soothingly up and down his back.

"Thank you for coming to tell us..."

He said flatly.

"I...I think we just need some time alone now."

"Of course. We'll let you know when we have anything more."

Frank nodded and the detectives took their leave. A moment later, Gerard was crying his heart out into Frank’s shirt as the older man held him and wished death on whoever had dared to break his precious angel.

*

*

*

Gerard had eventually cried himself to sleep in Frank’s arms, so Frank took a few minutes to send a text to Mikey, explaining the latest developments and asking if he and Pete could clean up the house before he brought Gerard home. Just three minutes later, his phone buzzed with an incoming text from the younger man.

Shit Frank. Is Gee Ok? Course we'll clean up. Let you know when it’s done. Later, M.

Frank sighed, he knew he could rely on Mikey. Sure they’d had their disagreements and even come to blows in the past, but that was behind them now that Gerard was back. Now they were both on the same page, the one that said to do whatever it took to keep Gee happy and safe. He sent a quick thank you text, telling briefly how Gerard had cried himself to sleep, then set his phone back on the nightstand before wrapping both arms around Gerard and closing his eyes, hopefully his headache would be gone the next time he woke up.

*

*

*

It was shortly after midday when Frank woke again to Gerard whimpering and squirming in his sleep. He cooed to him, stroking fingers through his hair and over his soft pale cheek until with a little gasp, Gerard woke, pretty green eyes fluttering open to look up at Frank.

"Hi baby...nightmare again?..."

Gerard nodded, pressing into Frank’s chest for comfort.

"Anything new, or the same as before?"

"S-same."

Frank sighed, softly kissing Gerard’s forehead.

"I’m right here baby and I’m never letting anyone hurt you...you know that, right?"

Gerard nodded shyly.

"I kn-know. I just...I just th-thought it was over."

"We all did sweetheart, but whatever happens, we’re not letting them win...remember?"

"Yeah. As l-long as we're t-together, we win, th-they lose."

"That’s right baby, and we are gonna win, I believe that totally and you need to as well, Ok?"

Gerard nodded, just as Frank’s cellphone buzzed a message. Frank reached over to the nightstand and picked the phone up, tapping on the message icon. It was a text from Mikey.

Hey Frank. We’ve sorted the house, had to throw out a couple pics of you and Gee cause they were drawn on, sorry. Got locks changed, new keys at ours. Phone when you’re coming to get them. Later, M.

*

*

*

Frank and Gerard took their time with breakfast in the hotel room, delivered by room service that Gerard hid from in the bathroom. After they’d eaten, Gerard picking nervously at his food and barely managing half, they got dressed and headed home...stopping on the way to pick up the new keys from Mikey and Pete. They didn’t stay for long, declining Mikey’s offer of coffee in favour of just grabbing the keys and heading back to the house, but when they got there, seeing everything back in it’s place...minus the photographs of their past that Gerard had grown to love because of the stories that Frank told about them...Gerard kinda wished that they’d said yes to the coffee.

Frank told Gerard that he was pretty sure he’d still got at least most of the missing photos on either his computer, or on a memory card, and that he could reprint the pictures, but Gerard was still upset, and the thought that someone had focused most of their destructive energy on destroying the images of memories Gerard didn’t even have...well that was enough to have him in tears for most of the day.

They spent the afternoon quietly cuddled up on the couch watching movies, then made and ate veggie burgers together before heading up to bed at just after ten. Gerard fell asleep with tears on his face and Frank’s warm arms wrapped around him, but Frank couldn’t sleep and lay awake wishing he knew how to make this nightmare all go away.

*

*

*

It was a little after two in the morning when Frank’s cellphone buzzed a message from the nightstand. He was still awake, so careful not to wake Gerard, he reached over and picked the phone up. The screen was set on low light because of the time, but it was bright enough for Frank to see that it was text from a private number. Frowning, he clicked on the text. The text was just four words, four words that made him feel physically sick.

We're coming for him!

Frank swallowed hard, looking down at the boy in his arms that he would give his life to protect. He took a couple of deep, steadying breaths...then deleted the message...he didn’t want Gerard to see it and freak out. He set the phone back on the nightstand and wrapped his arms back around Gerard’s slight body. No, no one was going to hurt Gerard again...even if he had to kill them to keep his beautiful boy safe.

*

*

*

When the morning finally came, Frank made a suggestion.

"Baby, I was thinking...why don’t we go away for a bit, like on vacation."

Gerard looked up from his spot tucked into Frank’s side as they cuddled in bed. He tilted his head slightly as he thought about it, then smiled.

"Where were you th-thinking?"

Frank leaned in to press a soft kiss to the boy’s forehead.

"Well I was thinking of somewhere we’ve been before, somewhere hot. I was thinking Hawaii...but the problem is..."

He paused and Gerard hummed quietly for him to continue. He sighed, smiling reassuringly.

"The problem is that we’d have to fly."

Gerard stiffened slightly, then relaxed, sucking his lower lip into his mouth while he considered this. After a minute or so, his brow furrowed in concentration, he finally released his lip and smiled up at Frank.

"Y-you’d stay with me all the t-time?..."

Frank nodded.

"Th-they can’t get me there...right?"

"Baby, I’m never gonna let them get you, no matter where we are."

Gerard hummed quietly, then nodded.

"Ok, we can f-fly."

Frank grinned wide, holding Gerard close to him and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"It’ll be great baby, you’ll see. Let’s go get some breakfast, then we can look online for last minute flights...Ok?"

Gerard smiled and nodded, and then they started their day. As it happened, they found a last minute deal to fly out the very next day, so they spent most of their day packing and making various arrangements. By the time they returned to their bed that night, everything was organised and they were both excited for their trip. Sleep came quickly and was thankfully uninterrupted, and then morning greeted them with soft light through the curtains.

"Morning baby, you looking forward to our trip?"

Gerard yawned, pushing his face into Frank’s chest.

"Yeah, just...just s-scared."

"Of the plane?"

Gerard nodded, opening his eyes and looking up at Frank.

"How l-long's the flight?"

"About nine hours, give or take"

"Th-that’s long. Will we get f-food?"

Frank chuckled.

"Yeah, but it probably won’t be too nice. We can get breakfast at the airport before we fly if you like?"

Gerard smiled and nodded.

"Ok. We should get up now, right?"

"Yeah baby. Why don’t you jump in the shower first while I double check we’ve got everything, then I’ll go in after you."

Gerard nodded and they climbed out of bed. An hour later they were out the door, half an hour after that they were parked in the long stay parking lot and checking in for their flight. Gerard clung to Frank as they were surrounded by hundreds of people, all hurrying to get where they were going. He buried his face into Frank’s shoulder when security said he had to go through the metal detector alone, but after a brief freak out and Frank holding him, cooing reassurances into his ear, he eventually took a deep breath, nodded, then went through before they headed off to find a nice little breakfast place and sat down to eat bagels with cream cheese.

Honestly the plane wasn’t as scary as Gerard had thought it would be, and apart from the take off and landing when he squeezed Frank’s hand so hard that he had to apologise afterward, he actually coped really well.

Security in Hawaii was almost as scary for Gerard as it had been in Newark, but with Frank by his side, he got through without any issues and they were soon climbing into a taxi and heading to their hotel. Gerard smiled wide as he watched the beautiful scenery out of the cab's window, one hand tangled with Frank’s lightly...relaxed, not tense. He turned his head to grin at Frank, who smiled back, lifting Gerard’s hand to kiss his fingertips softly.

"It’s so p-pretty here Frank. I w-wish I remembered c-coming here before."

Frank sighed, wrapping his arms around the younger boy and pulling him gently back against his chest.

"I know baby, but we'll make new memories, I promise."

Notes

Hi there chipmunks, how’s you?

So I’ve been ill for the last week and I’m still not 100%, but I’m getting there. I thought I should update this, even though I’m not desperately happy with the chapter...tell me what you think.
Hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time, PLEASE COMMENT and peace out babies!
<3
…………………………………………………………………