A/N: FYI, about midway through the chapter, I threw in a twist that I felt the need to explain. Jake and CC start, for lack of a better term, speaking in tongues. The reason is because they're fluent in French the same way Andy and Ash are fluent in Italian. I highly doubt this is a fact of Reality, but in my story, it works.

If you want a rough translation of any Andy and Ash say that isn't in English, use Google Translate and set it to translate from Italian to English. Same applies for anything Jake and CC say that's not in English, although it has to be from French to English.
~Cyn


Back at Ash’s house, Andy was out of his mind with worry, and Jake and Jinxx were struggling to calm him down. They’d gotten into a minor fight about their sex lives the night before because he’d been in the mood and his sweetheart hadn’t, and now he’d just up and disappeared. There wasn’t a note left anywhere in the house, and to top that off, he’d taken their precious daughter with him.

The first thing he’d thought to do when he didn’t find a note was to call and text him, but his sweetheart wasn’t answering. He was terrified that he’d pushed his luck a little too far the night before and that, in his upset state, his sweetheart had packed up their baby and left him. Jinxx assured him that there was no way he’d do that to him over a minor fight, regardless of the fight’s contents, but he wasn’t having it. Soon enough, Jake was forced to restrain him, which meant tackling him to the floor so he couldn’t go out the front door and do anything stupid that might cost him his life.

Andy was now sitting on the couch in the living room, black tracks running down his cheeks from the tears he’d shed because of his eyeliner, when he heard the front door open. A tired sigh followed, as well as what sounded like multiple pairs of boots, but he figured it was just Jake and Jinxx. They’d gone outside to get some air once they were sure he wouldn’t go anywhere so they could figure out how to help him, after all. He was surprised when his daughter ran in front of him and threw herself in his lap as she screamed “Daddy!”

“Buon pomeriggio, mia dolci figlia,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her plump cheek. “Where’s Mommy?”

“In the front hall, trying to get a half-dead CC inside,” his sweetheart answered.

“Here, lemme help,” Andy said, having jumped up and run over to him. “Should you be anywhere but bed, Ceece?”

“Probably not, but he’s got some news to share,” Ash told him. “Let’s get him settled, then you can have your ‘hello’ kiss I know you want.”

He merely nodded, hoping he saw it out of the corner of his eye, and tossed their friend’s free arm over his shoulders.

CC was all but dragging his feet in exhaustion, but he was still conscious enough to help them move his tall, lanky form to their living room. Andy got the feeling that they’d be setting the guest room up for him and going to get Casey, or just taking him home within a couple hours. The way their friend looked right now, he almost wanted to tuck him into bed and just go get his baby sister so they could both spend the night over here. He looked like he could use someone to take care of him for a while.

“Where’s Jake and Jinxx? They need to hear this, too,” his sweetheart said once the drummer was seated on the loveseat. For once, the man in question was anything but hyper.

“Probably out back,” he answered, not wanting to tell him how he’d been freaking out a short time ago.

“I’m gonna go get ’em real quick,” Ash told him, heading toward the kitchen.

“You okay, Ceece?” Andy asked, kneeling down at his friend’s feet.

“I’ll be all right,” he answered weakly, just barely opening his eyes. Like his sweetheart’s, those chocolate-brown orbs usually shone with happiness and excitement, but right now, they were dull and lifeless.

“If you’re sure…” he trailed off uncertainly.

“So what’s going on?” he heard Jinxx ask as the rest of the band walked into the living room.

“I think it’s best that we let CC explain,” Ash answered, dragging his lover onto the couch across from the loveseat.

Nodding, the multi-instrumentalist took the only single chair in the room, leaving Jake to take the seat next to their drummer. He couldn’t help but notice how the man’s eyes flew open and his face paled from just the gentle movement, and he honestly couldn’t help but worry. CC looked so sick that he almost thought he was going to bolt for the bathroom at any second.

Once they were all settled and the drummer’s breathing returned to normal, everybody sat quietly and turned to him for the answers they sought. He clearly wasn’t happy that the spotlight was on him, but the look on his face said that he’d known it was going to happen eventually. That confused Andy to high Heaven, but he kept his mouth shut since he knew that he’d get answers as soon as his friend felt like talking. They hadn’t come up with the unspoken agreement not to push each other for answers unless they felt one’s life was in danger for nothing, and he knew it.

CC took a few deep breaths as he slumped down, his hand resting over his abdomen as if he felt like he was going to get sick still. Judging by the look on his face the entire time he’d been sitting there since he trudged through the door, the rest of them knew that wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, and hoped it wasn’t anything serious. He finally opened his eyes and looked at each one of them in turn, taking yet another deep breath as he did so, before finally beginning to speak.

“I think it might be a good idea if we make sure one of the other drummers we’re touring with is on standby to fill in for me,” he said softly, so softly they almost didn’t hear him.

“Why, Ceece? Since when do you not feel like destroying a drumkit?” Jinxx asked curiously.

“Since five days ago,” the drummer answered flatly. “From dawn till around noon, then starting again around dusk till about midnight, I feel sicker than a dog and usually don’t wanna do anything but lay around and sleep.”

“Well, you always wanna sleep; that’s nothing new,” Jake said, and everybody nodded their agreement.

CC actually growled at him, a deep, throaty growl of warning. They were amazed when the guitarist shrunk back as if he feared he’d cut his balls off for just looking at him, but also noted the concerned look on his face. Only Andy knew why he was so concerned about their friend, but it wasn’t his news to share, so he’d kept his mouth shut, just like he’d promised.

“Anyway, I think it’s a good idea to make sure one of them doesn’t mind filling in last-minute,” he repeated, stopping suddenly as he looked green. “Gimme a minute.”

He jumped up off the loveseat and darted down the hall, and within moments, they heard a door slam. Ash jumped up to go check on him as if he knew what was wrong, and considering that he’d been the one to help him, he probably did. That action only served to make Andy jealous, mainly because of the fight they’d had the night before that they still had yet to talk about, but he tamped his jealousy down before it caused problems that were better left alone.

It wasn’t long before the bassist helped their friend back down the hall, his arm wrapped around his waist as he acted as a crutch for him. CC thanked him weakly as he helped him sit down again, and everybody still seated noted the ashen hue of his skin, as well as that he looked clammy. They all realized that he had indeed gotten sick when he ran off, realizing that the door they’d heard slam was the bathroom door. If he was this sick, they wondered if he should even be going on tour at all, but maybe they could work around whatever illness he had. Tour just wouldn’t be the same with their Animal, so they certainly hoped they could; otherwise, they’d be left with no other choice but to replace him for this tour.

“You okay, man?” Jinxx asked. He was letting his alter ego of Papa Jinxx out like he always did when he was concerned.

“Like I told Andy, I’ll be fine,” he answered. “It’ll be a while, but I’ll be fine.”

“You haven’t got something terminal, have you?” Jake asked, sounding both curious and extremely worried.

“No, but it damn sure feels like it,” CC chuckled, immediately realizing his mistake as he turned slightly green again.

“So what’s wrong? You know we care, and that even if we don’t want to, we’d rather get a replacement so you can stay home and rest than risk you getting even worse by pushing yourself too hard,” Andy told him, sitting forward with his elbows on his knees.

“You guys remember how I was the one to figure out Ash’s secret because I have the same ‘gift’, right?” he asked, looking at all of them but Ash.

“Yeah, we remember,” Jinxx said, sounding confused.

“Well, I started thinking that maybe I haven’t got the flu or food poisoning after all, so I had him come over to my house earlier,” he began. “I knew he was the only one out of us that would completely understand my train of thought and concerns, so it’s nothing personal against the rest of you guys.”

They were all confused, but sat quietly, waiting for him to continue.

“After taking me to his OB/GYN, I found out…that I’m pregnant.”

It was so quiet that one could hear the crickets outside the house chirping, and could’ve still heard a pin drop inside, if they listened close enough.

“What?” Andy finally asked, surprise coloring his voice.

“Yeah. That’s why I’ve been so sick the past few days,” CC answered, smiling weakly. “Turns out that I haven’t had the flu or anything else; I’ve been dealing with morning sickness.”

“How far along are you?” Leave it to Papa Jinxx to ask that question.

“As of Sunday, I’ll be five weeks,” he answered.

All of them smiled and started congratulating him, but soon noticed that Jake had remained silent. Although he’d grown pale, even paler than normal, they couldn’t read what he was thinking in his eyes or expression. It was like the guitarist had put up walls that they had no hope of scaling as he took in and thought about the news their friend had just shared with them.

“Jake! You still in there?” Jinxx snapped his fingers in front of his face.

“Oh!” he gasped, his back slamming against the back of the loveseat.

“You all right, man?” Ash asked, his concern turning to the hazel-eyed man.

“Fils d'une chienne! Tout est de ma faute!” he said. Finally a readable expression appeared on his face, but they didn’t expect it to be distraught.

“Did you just speak French?” Andy asked.

“Oui, je peux parler Français. Tout comme vous avec votre Italien, je habitude de ne pas utilise à moins d'états d'âme,” Jake answered, still forgetting he was, for lack of a better way to put it, speaking in tongues.

“Speak English, Jake! We can’t understand you!” Jinxx yelled.

“I said that yes, I can speak French, but usually don’t unless emotional,” he snapped, glaring. “Je ne peux pas croire ce putain de.”

“Vous saviez que c'était une possibilité, mon amour,” CC piped up softly, shocking everyone with his own fluency in French.

“Je ne peux toujours pas y croire réellement passé. Si non pour me donner dans pour vous, nous ne serions pas dans ce pétrin. Tout est de ma faute!”

“You two care to speak English and let us in on whatever the hell you’re talking about?” Ash asked. Sure, he was pretty fluent in Italian now because of his lover, but he, like the rest of the guys, didn’t know the first thing about speaking French.

With a sigh, the two men looked at each other, seemingly holding a silent conversation, then turned to look at their friends once again.

“We might as well come clean to you,” Jake said, sounding like he was scared shitless. He reached over and grabbed the drummer’s hand, gently lacing their fingers together.

Andy merely smirked at them, mouthing “You’re welcome” when the others weren’t looking.

“We’ve been dating for a while now,” the guitarist continued, gulping nervously and tugging the collar of his shirt away from his neck.

“Define ‘a while’,” Jinxx said, his expression unreadable.

“Tuesday made nine months,” CC told them, his face suddenly regaining color as he blushed furiously and ducked his head.

“Ya know, I figured out the day I met you freshman year that they broke the mold with you, Ceece,” Ash chuckled. “I’m starting to think they broke the machine that made the mold with you, too.”

“Hey! You can’t say anything! Look at who you’re with!” he sputtered.

“Eh, true enough.” The bassist shrugged and grinned. “If any of us came off as the total opposite of what he really was, it would be me.”

“Seriously. You were the one who went from one girl to the next on a weekly, sometimes nightly, basis until you met Andy,” Jinxx agreed.

“Anyway,” Jake said, taking control of the conversation again. “We’ve been dating for a while now. We just weren’t sure about how and when to tell you guys. It wasn’t that we thought you wouldn’t accept us; we already knew you would. But just the fact that you thought we were straight made it a bit more complicated to find the right time and way to admit we weren’t.”

“And you think it was any easier for us?” Andy asked. “Everybody thought Ash was a player; they thought I was a celibate monk. Then, come to find out, we’re queer as three-dollar bills and dating each other. Go figure, right?”

“Touché, Andy.”

“So what made you decide to finally tell us?” Jinxx asked. He looked like he’d already put the pieces of the puzzle together and was just looking for confirmation before he made an ass out of all of them.

“Because…the baby’s mine.”

The multi-instrumentalist looked shocked while Ash smiled warmly. Andy merely sat across from them, smirking since he already knew their secret.

“Well, I don’t have to ask if you guys’ve been having fun together,” the bassist laughed.

“Oh, they’ve been ‘having fun’, all right,” the frontman chuckled, his basement-deep voice sounding gravelly.

Ash and Jinxx turned to look at him, confusion and curiosity etched into their features.

“Let’s put it this way…if the walls of our recording booth could talk, mio deviante, they’d have one helluva story to tell.” He crossed his arms as he smirked.

“Oh, my… What is wrong with you two?” he groaned, face-palming.

“We couldn’t wait.” Jake merely shrugged. “Besides, at least we went somewhere soundproof so you guys wouldn’t have to hear us.”

“That’s the only thing saving your skin right now, you two,” Ash growled.

“Not like you and Andy haven’t done worse,” he said, shrugging. “I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t do half of what you’ve done in the past if Miss Amy weren’t deaf.”

Both men blushed furiously, confirming their friends’ suspicions.

“Well, considering that CC’s pregnant, it’s definitely a good idea to have one of the other drummers on standby,” Jinxx said, steering the conversation out of the gutter. “Are you even gonna bother trying to tour in your condition, though?”

“I’m gonna give it my all, and if it doesn’t work out, you’ll just have to get a replacement and let me come back home,” CC said, being his usual stubborn self.

“Well, at least you’re still willing to give it a shot, mon animale,” Jake told him, squeezing his hand.

“What kinda pansy would I be if I refused to even so much as give it a shot, after all we’ve been through together, just because I wound up pregnant?” He looked at each of his friends. “If Andy, Ash, and Jinxx can all deal with taking their kids out on the road with them, although Hell only knows how they do it, I think I can at least try to do my job while carrying one under my heart.”

“There’s the spirit!” Andy cheered, a grin splitting his face. “We’re strong and we don’t back down just because of haters or a single curveball, damn it.”

All of them grinned at each other, threw their right hands into the center of their little circle, and counted down from three before screaming their pre-show battle cry, which was “Show it the biscuits!” They all started laughing, although CC stopped sooner than the rest of them, his hand now splayed over his belly. Jake sobered up when he realized that his own sweetheart seemed to be feeling sick again, gently rubbing his hand as he asked if he was okay.

He nodded jerkily, but surprisingly didn’t jump up and dart off down the hall again like he had earlier. Now that they’d quit laughing and could hold a conversation again, they agreed to give the drummer of D.R.U.G.S. a call to see if he’d be willing to fill in for CC, should the need arise. Andy said that he’d put in the call, seeing as how his best friend outside the band was their lead guitarist, Matt Good. The rest of his own band agreed, figuring that’d be the easiest way to get this shit accomplished, especially on such short notice, and he excused himself from the room to place the call.

CC decided that his excuse would be that he’d been under a lot of stress from caring for Casey until he had proof that he was actually pregnant, which their frontman knew before he left the room. He didn’t want to have to come clean to all of their fans just yet that he was bisexual, given that he was with Jake but wasn’t opposed to women altogether. Besides, they probably wouldn’t believe his claim of being pregnant yet if he had no proof, and what better proof than to just wait until he started showing?

Once they had everything planned out and nailed down, Ash insisted that he stay at their house for the night, saying that he’d go get Casey, if that’s what he wanted. The drummer put up no arguments there because he was just too exhausted to do much of anything, as evidenced by the dark bags forming under his eyes and the loud yawns he let out. Andy quietly snuck upstairs to set up their room for a night of romance while he got the drummer and lead guitarist, who’d insisted on staying, as well, settled into the guest room. He was determined to have a romantic night with his sweetheart once again, as they only seemed to happen about once a month these days, and he hoped his efforts weren’t in vain tonight.

Notes