When the Sun Comes Up... 7/18/06 (not factual)

A few hours later, Gerard awoke in the hotel room he shared with his brother to an annoying alarm clock. He randomly pressed buttons until it stopped sounding.

Rolling over in his bed and looked towards the still dark window, a melody found it's way into his head. He wondered what Andie was doing at that moment. Was she still asleep? Or was she awake in this quiet darkness of the early morning. And of course...was she thinking of him, too?

"You awake?" asked Mikey from the next bed.

"Mmm-hmm," mumbled Gerard.

Mikey turned on the light and rubbed his eyes. "So...?"

"So, what?" asked Gerard, still lost in his own thoughts.

"So...what's going on with you and Andie?"

"She's..." Gerard sighed and rolled over to face his brother as he propped himself up on his elbow. "She's fucking amazing. She's so smart and funny... God, what am I doing?"

"What do you mean?" asked Mikey.

"I'm just...totally falling for her... What if she doesn't feel the same? It will just fuck with me. And...what if this isn't the right time?"

"So, what are you saying?" asked Mikey incredulously. "You're just going to fucking give up before you even give it a chance? Just because you're afraid it might not happen? Fuck that. Just go for it. If it wasn't meant to be, then it won't be. But you owe it to yourself to try. Any one of us would do the same thing in your shoes."

"Yeah," Gerard thought about his brother's point. "You're probably right. I just....I don't want to fucking set myself up for heartache again."

Mikey crawled out of his bed and started walking to the bathroom.

"Sounds like you've already decided that will happen. Let your fucking walls down and give it a chance first, man."

"I know, I know..." Gerard said as Mikey shut the bathroom door.

He laid his head back down on the pillow and thought about how, before, he would have wanted a beer about right now. But beer led to pills, then pills led to...much worse.

No, he wasn't ever going down that road again. He might not make it back if he did. It just might be the end of him.


The guys all caught up with each other outside their rooms and piled into the rented Escalade again. Brian Schechter, their manager, had joined them today and was already at the wheel.

"Hey, isn't that Andie?" asked Frank, looking out the window just as the last door shut.

Gerard snapped his head around, "Where?"

"Who's Andie?" asked Brian but Gerard was already getting out of the vehicle. "And where's he going??"

"Andie is the stylist for the shoot," offered Mikey.

"Yeah, and Gerard's 'in love' with her," Ray made fun.

"Hey, don't knock it, dude," Frank elbowed Ray but he was serious.

"What? Do they know each other?" asked Brian.

"They just met yesterday, but haven't spent a spare minute apart since then." said Bob. "You gotta keep up, man."

Gerard was walking back to the vehicle with Andie. He popped his head in the door. "Make room for one more. Andie's riding with us."

Andie stepped in as Mikey scooted over for her.

"Andie, this is Brian Schechter, our manager," said Gerard getting in behind her. "Brian, this is Andie Redmond. She's the stylist for the videos."

"Nice to meet you, Andie," said Brian.

Gerard slid in the seat next to Andie as she waved up to Brian. "Nice to meet you. Thanks for letting me ride with you guys."

"No problem. Any friend of these guys' is a friend of mine."


They reached the set about 20 minutes later but Frank and Ray had fallen asleep in that short period of time, as the night before caught up with them.

"Wake up, you guys," Brian said to them as they pulled up to the entrance.

"Man..." Frank complained. "We should NOT have done that last night."

"Done what?" asked Brian, concerned.

"We went to see a local band," offered Ray.

"Well, what'd you expect?" said Brian. "No wonder you all look like you just rolled out of bed. Good luck with them, Andie."

"Hey, how come you're so awake, Andie?" asked Bob.

"I slept like a baby. Always do. Doesn't matter where I am," said Andie with a shrug.

They all piled out of the Escalade and walked in together, somewhat ready for day two of "The Black Parade".