Hanging by a Moment

Because he’d wanted to surprise the girls in his life, Ash’d only told his sweetheart that he was most definitely coming home for Christmas, come Hell or high water. What he hadn’t told her was that, regardless of anything else save a plane crash that landed him in the hospital or ended his life, he was going to be home in time to help her play Santa Claus for their precious little girls.

Needless to say, since it was still early morning on Christmas Eve morning when he got home, his entrance to the house was almost silent, despite having his suitcase with him. As he’d done on his trip home during Thanksgiving, he’d left all his instruments and other equipment with the road crew, thus leaving them in a locked trailer across town.

Since he figured that, even though she typically rose early because of their daughters, Rebel was still abed since it was so early, he decided he was going to surprise her. He planned on going upstairs and crawling into bed behind her, maybe waking her up with a kiss as if she were the faerie tale princess, Sleeping Beauty, if she didn’t wake up on her own. She generally wasn’t so deep a sleeper that she wouldn’t notice someone crawling into bed with her, but that was if she wasn’t completely exhausted. Considering that she’d been caring for Logan and Legacy alone all this time, she very well might be.

However, his surprise upon getting to the master bedroom was quite high, indeed. He’d never expected to walk in after getting home from touring to find his sweetheart in bed with someone else, and he felt his heart shatter. It was like walking in on Kina in bed with her lover all over again, and he was on the verge of roaring with anguish and despair. The only thing that stopped him was not only their daughters sleeping just down the hall, but two distinctly feminine moans coming from the sleeping couple.

“Rebel,” he said, her name coming out as a combination of a hiss and a growl.

“Mmm…Ashley?” the young woman asked sleepily, barely lifting her head.

“I do believe you’ve got some explaining to do,” Ash growled, unsure of whether to be pissed at her or not.

Realizing she wasn’t dreaming, the woman he was so in love with sat up, turned the bedside lamp on, and threw the covers off herself in what seemed like one motion. The smile that lit up her still-sleepy face could’ve easily been the sun on a clear day…until she took in the expression on his own face that made it disappear like the sun behind a cloud.

“Wh-What’s wrong, Outlaw?” she asked, using the nickname she often called him.

“Don’t you Outlaw me till you tell me why I come home to find you in bed with someone else!” Ash growled, trying to keep his volume low for the sake of their daughters.

“Shut your trap right now,” the other person growled in response, clearly unhappy at such a rude awakening. “So help me every deity out there, if you break her heart without hearing either of us, especially her, out first, I’ll rip your balls off and shove ’em down your throat while shoving my foot so far up your ass you’ll have to attempt clearing your throat before you can fart.”

Taken aback by the other woman’s harsh words, and without bothering to introduce herself at that, his expression turned bewildered as he watched her grope for her glasses.

“It’s really not what it looks like, Ash.” Rebel’s lower lip trembled as tears welled in her beautiful chocolate eyes. “You remember me telling you about my best friend, the one I call Sissy?”

“Yeah, I remember,” the bassist answered, still fighting to conceal his warring emotions.

“Well…this is her,” she said. “Realynn, or Bandita, as most in our social circle call her, has been hanging out since I was so lonely and depressed without you.”

Shocked that he’d completely misread what he saw, Ash wished he had the guts to rip his own balls off and shove them down his throat. “Rebel…I didn’t realize…”

“Yeah, you just assumed the worst the second you came in,” the other woman, Bandita, growled. “And to think she loves you…hmph!”

“Sissy…” his sweetheart said, a warning note entering her voice.

“As much as I love you, and as much as you’ve gone through, can you really blame me for being a bit pissed?” she asked. “Especially at four o’ clock in the freaking morning when I was sleeping so damn good?”

“Kinda, considering that I know why he reacted like that,” Rebel told her. “Granted, I’m not saying shit unless he wants me to, if he doesn’t do it himself. It took a lotta trust for him to confide in me, and I’m not about to break that trust.”

Bandita cast him a curious glance, but shrugged it off. “Whatever. If you two want your bed, I’ll head to the guest room for now. Ain’t no way I’m gonna try driving right now unless I have a death wish, and I don’t.”

“You can stay there,” Ash told her. “Despite the jet-lag, I’m not gonna be able to sleep for a while.”

“I’m not gonna get back to sleep for a while, either, now that my outlaw’s home,” Rebel agreed, grinning as he welcomed her into his arms.

“Just don’t get to going at it, and if you do, don’t let me hear it,” the other woman said, burying herself under the covers again.

“You know I wouldn’t dream of it, sissy,” his sweetheart giggled as she snuggled against him. “I might be vocal at times, but not with others around.”

Her “sissy” hmphed again as she pulled a pillow over her head, thus dismissing them.

Ash gently picked his sweetheart up, cradling her to his chest as if she were one of their daughters as he turned and carried her downstairs. She gladly snuggled against his chest, her arms wrapped around his neck and head resting on his shoulder as he moved. It felt so good to have her in his arms again, especially after realizing he’d been mistaken before.

Once they both had a mug of coffee and were seated in the living room, Rebel in his lap since she didn’t consider being beside him close enough, that was when he apologized for starting the misunderstanding upstairs. She waved off his apology, though, telling him she didn’t blame him for coming to that conclusion, considering what’d happened with Kina in the past. Granted, she’d hoped he’d realize before ever making such an assumption that it was another woman in bed with her, seeing as she wasn’t lesbian, and therefore keep his mouth shut, but it was a moot point now.

Still, the bassist felt bad about having caused the tears he’d seen well up in her eyes, especially on what was supposed to be a joyous occasion. She glared at him as the caffeine started kicking in and told him that if he didn’t can it while he was still ahead, she’d make him regret it. Knowing she meant business when she said something like that, he snapped his mouth shut so hard his teeth clacked together and said no more.

Until they heard their girls sniffling on the baby monitor she’d brought down with them a couple hours later, silence reigned for a while thereafter. They had one of those relationships where they didn’t necessarily need to talk all the time; sometimes they could tell how the other felt with just a single look, a simple touch. This was one of those times, and after the chaos of tour, Ash felt he needed some silence now that he had Rebel seated comfortably in his lap once again.

“Good morning, girls,” she crooned to the sleepy toddlers who were sitting in their cribs, their little fists rubbing their eyes.

“Ma-ma,” they both chortled without even looking up to see her.

“That’s right, sweeties,” Rebel chuckled. “Mama has a surprise for you.”

The girls finally looked up at her, curiosity written on their faces since he’d waited out in the hall.

“Yep, Mama’s got a special surprise for you girls,” she told them. “It’s a day early, but it still works.”

Both girls grabbed the rails of their cribs and hauled themselves up so they were standing, both wanting to know what the surprise was.

“I think your surprise needs to c’mon in here,” she chuckled, moving so they could both see the doorway.

“Good morning, my little princesses,” Ash said, his face split with a grin as he walked in.

“Da-da!” Logan and Legacy chortled together, both their little faces lighting up when they saw him.

“Awww, did you miss Daddy?” he asked when they plopped back down on their behinds so they could reach up to him.

“Miss Da-da!” they both cried in unison.

“Well, it’s a good thing Daddy missed you, too, ain’t it?” he chuckled, gladly lifting Logan, then Legacy, from her crib.

“Miss Da-da,” both girls repeated, happily snuggling against his chest as he held them.

“Why don’t we go back downstairs so I can get started on breakfast?” Rebel chuckled. “Doubtless they’re hungry already, and I’ll just about guarantee that’ll be the only way to get Bandita outta bed, once and for all.”

“Or just get her outta our bed, in general,” he chuckled as he nodded his agreement.

He loved the sweet laughter that floated past her lips to dance through the air, teasing his ears as it floated like music on a breeze. Still, he happily followed her back downstairs, the girls happily snuggled against his chest as they rested their heads on his shoulders. It was still early and they weren’t yet fully awake, so he didn’t blame them, especially since they were mere toddlers.

While Rebel busied herself with cooking breakfast, he took the girls to the living room to sit on the couch and watch cartoons with them. Granted, he didn’t necessarily like the ones more suited to kids their ages, but he could deal with it. The one they seemed to like the best was Dragon Tales, and as silly as it was, he was a bit sad to say it was his favorite.

By the time his sweetheart had breakfast done, he heard a soft groan and equally soft footsteps trudging down the stairs. Both girls perked up and used his shoulders to stand, holding onto them for balance as they peeked over the back of the couch. They gave happy cries of greeting, the other woman’s name coming out a bit of a jumbled mess, and the bassist couldn’t stifle a chuckle. He laughed a little louder when Bandita momentarily feigned their enthusiasm as she returned their greetings since she was half asleep.

“Glad to see you’re finally awake, sissy,” Rebel giggled as she entered the kitchen.

“There’s a difference between conscious and awake, sissy,” he heard her respond as he gathered their girls up.

“Okay, okay…glad to see you’re finally conscious, sissy,” she amended with another giggle.

“That’s more like it,” Bandita chuckled as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

“Ban’ita! Da-da ’ome!” the girls cried happily as he entered the kitchen with them.

“Really, now?” she asked, pretending she’d just noticed him. “No wonder Legacy’s such a Purdy little girl since Daddy’s so Purdy himself.”

Ash chuckled softly at the pun on his surname as the girls let out peals of laughter.

“Let’s get these little goofballs fed so they can go play,” Rebel said seriously, knowing how the girls could get if they weren’t fed at close to a certain time.

“Sounds like a plan to me, sissy,” the other woman agreed.

Between himself and their guest, they got the girls strapped into their high chairs while his sweetheart was busy serving their breakfast. Logan and Legacy both squealed happily when she put plates of finely-chopped scrambled eggs down in front of them. Their biscuits and gravy was left on the table well out of their reach so they wouldn’t make a mess with it or choke on the crumbled biscuits.

Legacy, being the little Daddy’s girl she was, wanted no one but Daddy to feed her since he was home, and that was fine by him. He had no problems with feeding the little girl he’d once found abandoned on his doorstep. The grin that split her face between bites of egg, and later the gravy and biscuits he fed her with a baby spoon, was infectious. Not only did it spread to split his own face, but it spread to those of Rebel and Bandita, as well. The only reason it didn’t spread to Logan’s was because she already wore an identical grin just from seeing Daddy again.

After they were done eating, Ash insisted on being the one to clean the table off while the women wrangled the girls. They were so messy from the gravy that they seemingly wore more of than they ate that they needed a bath already. He chuckled as he watched them take the squirming toddlers to the bathroom upstairs, shaking his head gently as he cleared the table. Those girls were the apples of his eye, the things aside from his steel rose that lit up his life like nothing else ever had and probably ever could again.

“So tell me,” Bandita said as she joined him on the couch while the girls were playing a short time later. “Why on Earth would you all but immediately accuse Rebel of cheating on you when you got here this morning?”

He gave her a sidelong look that clearly said he didn’t want to talk about it, especially with a stranger.

“Look, I’m not asking purely to be nosy,” she told him. “I’m asking because I care about my sissy, and therefore in a roundabout way, at least till I get to know you better, you.”

The bassist was a bit taken aback, but still drew a deep breath that he released in a sigh. “Am I to assume you knew who I was long before ever meeting like Rebel did?”

“I did. I’ve been a fan of Black Veil Brides pretty much since We Stitch these Wounds came out,” the young woman answered, nodding. “Rebel only discovered you guys about a year and a-half ago, but she still listened to all your albums and became a fan on her own.”

“Then I’m guessing you remember back when I dated Kina?” Ash asked.

“Oh, yeah. I hated her…thought she was too stuck-up for someone who clearly had as big a heart as you do,” she told him. “I dunno the all the circumstances, but based on what little you were willing to say when you guys broke up, I wanted to rip her a new one, anyway.”

“If I’d been vindictive enough, I probably would’ve. Then again, I think throwing her out on her ear with nowhere to go, unless she put in a call to one of her friends, anyway, was vindictive enough,” the bassist admitted.

“Whatever she did, and don’t tell me she did nothing to deserve something like that, it had to’ve been pretty bad,” Bandita said. “It also likely has something to do with your reaction earlier, doesn’t it?”

“It’s exactly why I reacted like I did.” He sat forward so his elbows rested on his knees, his hands hanging limply between his spread thighs. “I came home from tour one time and caught her in my bed with her lover. Coming home to find the woman I loved, although I love Rebel far more than I ever loved Kina, in bed with someone else…”

“Since you couldn’t really tell whether I was male or female, it caused a flashback to when you caught Kina in bed with someone else, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, it did. Only the girls sleeping down the hall and hearing what I knew was two distinct feminine moans as y’all readjusted yourselves is what kept me from blowing up worse than I did,” Ash told her. “Rebel’d never said anything about being lesbian or bisexual, so I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt just because of that. But after having it happen once…I honestly thought the past was repeating itself for a minute.”

“All right, in that case, I don’t blame you for somewhat getting pissed like that.” She looked him dead in the eye, and he suddenly realized just how much like his sweetheart she looked. “Doesn’t mean I’m happy about being woken up like that at such an ungodly hour, and definitely when both of us were completely innocent.”

“Yeah…sorry about that,” he said sheepishly, blushing as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Now that I know what sparked it, don’t worry about it, Ashley,” Bandita told him. “Just don’t let it happen again. Unless it’s obvious to you, if you don’t already know how much Rebel loves you, you’re just as big a fool for not seeing it as she is for loving you that much.”

Curious, he just cocked a brow at her, but said nothing.

“I’m serious. She’s cried so much just since Thanksgiving because she missed you that I have no idea how there’s not a river running through the kitchen yet,” she told him.

“She’s seriously cried that much?” Ash asked, his eyes widening. “Oh, mio povero acciaio rosa.”

“She’s basically had me move in temporarily, both to help with the girls and because she needed someone to lean on,” the young woman continued. “Most nights, she’d cry herself to sleep in my arms, and when I managed to get her up to your bedroom, she wouldn’t let me go since she’s such a cuddler.”

“I’m guessing that’s how you ended up sleeping in our bed with her instead of the guest room,” the bassist guessed.

“That’s exactly it. My original plan was to sleep in the guest room, both because I didn’t want her ending up worse as a result, and because I just don’t feel right sharing a bed with her when I know it’s also yours,” Bandita answered. “But since she wouldn’t let me go, I knew trying to forcibly extricate myself would just make matters worse, too.”

“Therefore acting as a stand-in for me, as far as cuddling goes, was probably the best choice.”
“Mmm hmm. Better than her getting no sleep, whether she stayed up all night crying or not.”

Now that everything had been explained to him, Ash knew there was nothing to forgive his sweetheart for since she’d done nothing wrong. If anything, he hoped she’d forgive him for nearly starting a fight that could’ve easily led him to dumping her as quickly and easily as he’d once dumped Kina. Considering that there was more at stake than just their relationship, and by that he meant their daughters and their house, maybe it was a good thing her adopted sister’d been there to shut him up before he went way too far.

About the time they finished their conversation, which also gave Bandita more understanding to his reaction, Rebel finally came downstairs. Once she’d gotten the girls bathed, she’d decided to take a shower herself since she was covered in gravy from them and soaked from where they’d splashed her, anyway.

With a grin on his face a country mile wide, the bassist patted his lap in a silent invitation that she gladly accepted. He’d missed having his steel rose sitting there, her torso snuggled against his as her head rested on either his shoulder or chest, during the last month or so that he’d been gone. Even the rest of the guys had noticed just how much he’d missed her, how much he’d wanted nothing more than to return home to her and their daughters. He couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas present than to come back home to the family he’d started, and in one living, breathing piece, to boot.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out and having fun with Bandita, who’d been invited to just spend another night and celebrate with them the following day, Logan, and Legacy. By the end of the day, all of them were tired, and considering that he was staying home through New Year’s, he could hold off on sex. Besides, he was just as happy getting to cuddle with her as they fell into a deep sleep as he’d be if they were making love again.

Notes