Big Bear was going great with Zack and Maria tagging along with Emma and I the divorce was going to be finalized today which meant that I could propose to Emma tonight when we got back to Huntington I haven't seen Claire in weeks and Michelle still needs to meet Emma this will all go down the drain quickly.

Matt and Val were downstairs enjoying cartoons with River and Claire Michelle was out the entire day so Val hadn't heard or seen her all day long Val was starting to get concerned she didn't want to worry Claire that her mother didn't come back she wanted to keep Claire in high spirits until she or Brian returned Matt was upstairs in his office getting some last minute emails sent out before going out on tour with Atreyu next week he was interrupted by screaming coming from downstairs Matt ran downstairs to check out the situation.

"What happened down here ?" Matt asked

"River fell down on the concrete in the street." Val replied

"Why weren't you watching him ?!?! Matt yelled

"I'm only one human being cut me some slack here!" Val yelled, clearly upset by Matt's words.

"Well you need to keep an eye on him next time." Matt said, walking back upstairs.

Val sat down on the couch crying Claire sat up tugging at Val's skirt she smiled down at her.

"Uncle Matt was being a grumpy monster." Val said she picked up Claire and carried her to the kitchen making her lunch with her on her right hip.

"Your mommy should be back soon." Val cooed as she sat Claire down with her peanut butter and jelly sandwich and her sippy cup filled with milk Val went outside to grab River when she spots a stranger she looks like she's strung out on drugs or alcohol but she needs to get River inside quickly before Matt finds out and goes on a Ted Bundy rampage.

---

Dinner with Zack, Maria, Brian, and Emma had begun to get tiresome Brian waited anxiously for the right time to propose he had to buy some more time before getting nervous again he grabbed the closest waiter and asked them to plan a surprise proposal for Emma but Brian could feel that something terrible was going to happen.

Going forward with the proposal was getting to Brian so he stalled as much as he could Emma and Meghan were waiting for Zack and Brian at the table fidgeting with each other's fingers and making small talk they were pretty impressed with the table decorations.

"Where are those two ?" Maria asked

"I have no clue but I'm getting restless." Emma replied

"You're not the only one." Maria said sipping her drink.

Brian and Zack returned from the bathroom a few hours later with huge grins on their faces Maria and Emma started to grow suspicious of those two and the crazy antics they decided to have a girls day on their last day in Big Bear before returning to Huntington the following morning. It would be great for Meghan and Emma to bond.

"What took you guys so long ?" Emma asked

"Zack and I had some things to discuss." Brian replied.

"Were you gossiping like girls ?" Maria asked

"Why yes we were." Zack replied taking a seat next to Maria .A huge smile appeared on my face as Emma ran up to me and leaped into my arms. I twirled her around and embraced her as tight as she did with me. She let go of me for a minute so I could greet Meghan with a hug. Maria knows all about the situation as well between me and her younger sister, and she only agrees to it as long as I make Emma happy, and I haven’t failed yet. We all sat outside together, Meghan sat on Zacky’s lap and Emma sat on mine. “How did you girls make it here?” I asked.

"Zack told us all about your charade to bring us back here." Emma replied

"Well somebody has a big mouth." Brian scoffed.

"Yes thank you." Zack laughed

---

It took me a total of two weeks until I finally turned in the signed papers to the courthouse, mostly because I kept thinking to myself if I was doing the right thing. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be with Emma, but Michelle and I have so much history together that it's not so simple for me to just erase like she never existed in my life. I was making this divorce a hell of a lot harder than it needed to be, but I'm just happy that Evelyn didn't take it as if I didn't love her because I do, I just haven't said it yet. I just know that when I do finally say those three words to her, I want to mean it and I want her to know that I mean it with every inch of my being. After two weeks and Michelle fully moved out of my house, I did some thinking and I made up my mind that the divorce is what I want. I will always have a place in my heart for the Michelle that I knew before the marriage, not the monster she became afterwards. I was told that I will get a call on a court date to get everything finalized and that could take up to a month at most. As long of a time that may seem, Emma was making every second count. Michelle had spent a total of 3 months at her parents house before making her way back to Matt and Val's house to retrieve Claire and return to Brian's house to collect her things and get a moving van and disappear for good this time

---

.
It will be two months tomorrow when the guys and I left good old Huntington Beach to head back to the life of drinking, touring and getting flashed by tons of women all over the world. Only this time, it was different for all of us, we are all changed men. The things that usually caught our attention in the past, the drugs, the beer, and the naked women all still catch our attention but it was different. I'm in love with a beautiful young lady that I have no problem saving from time to time. Matt, Johnny and Arin are all married, but that doesn't stop them from looking at a tit or two from time to time. Matt is a father, and now Zacky is in love and expecting a child in six or seven months. The divorce with Michelle continues to be a struggle because every time the court calls to schedule a time of day to finalize everything, Michelle is nowhere to be found. I told Valary to keep in touch with her and remind her that this whole thing needs to get on the ball. I especially want to get this done before anything else happens between me and Emma. I will admit, as sexually active as we have been since we got together two days after we met, we haven't exactly been playing things safe. I don't even remember if we ever even used a condom during any of the times that we had sex, and it surprises me from time to time that she hasn't gotten pregnant yet. At the same time, I'm glad she hasn't. The last thing I needed in the middle of this divorce was a child from another woman. Part of me could care less where Michelle is hiding, but I couldn't help but feel at least a little bit of simpathy for her. Hoping that she is okay and safe somewhere instead of dead in a ditch.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and the one thing that I want more than anything is, well two things; a good smoke, and to show Emma that I am officially divorced. Not that we would stop anything anyway, but it only feels right if Michelle would get her head out of her fucking ass and show up to court when she is supposed to. If I was going to have to wait another month for this damn thing to be finalized then I will have no problem in finding her and dragging her to court myself. For God's sake, this is becoming too much. No wonder why people questioned everything when I first decided I wanted to marry Michelle. Every now and then when I talk about the divorce, I get these 'I told you so' looks from both Johnny and Zacky. They were the main ones who were against me getting married in the first place, let alone to my best friend's twin sister. But, the past is in the past, and all I have to worry about now is where to go from here on. We performed out of the country and in a few days we have finally made our way to somewhere in Australia. During the time out on tour, I have mentioned to my family back home about Emma, but I wasn't able to go into too much detail.

Tonight, we were waiting for our cab to take us to our hotel for the weekend, and I get a phone call from my dad while I am talking to Emma on the other line. "Baby, my father's on the other line. I will call you later."

"Okay baby. I love you and please be safe."I smiled. "I will baby, and I love you too. Bye."

"Bye." She hung up on her end and I quickly pressed the screen to answer my dad's call.

"Hey dad."

"Hey son. How are things going outside of the country?"

"It's alright. We are all waiting on a cab right now. Shads went to get something to eat with Johnny, Arin is occupied with listening to his music player, and Zacky is passed out on the bench next to me. How's everyone back in LA?"


"You know, same shit different day. Your sister has her mood swings from time to time. Suzy spends most of her time cooking or cleaning, or avoiding McKenna. And Pinkly is...well, Pinkly." He chuckled. "So yeah, same shit different day."

I laughed a little. "Well that's nice."

"Yeah. So, have you heard from Michelle at all?" Papa Gates asked.


"No. And I don't know whether to be worried or pissed off about it. She did sign the divorce papers, but I have a feeling that she's not showing up because she doesn't want me to divorce her for Emma

"Speaking of her, I know that a couple of times you've mentioned her to us but we haven't really taken the time to let you really tell us about her. How did you even meet this girl anyway?" Papa Gates asked.



"I met her while on vacation with Val, Michelle, and Matt She worked at this shop that sold books and coffee . Matt and I were told to go there since I was looking for a place to find great coffee while I was in the city."


Kind of odd that you met her in a coffee shop . But tell me more about her. How do you two keep in touch with each other?" Papa Gates asked.

We call, text, or video chat with each other. Sometime in November last year, she and her sister Maria, who is having Zack's baby, moved to Huntington Beach to be closer to us when we are home from touring." Brian replied.


Oh, that's good. Has she lived in California before? I know it's a lot different here than in Georgia ." Papa Gates said.

"Yeah actually, Emma and Maria have lived in San Diego for a few years and even lived in Huntington Beach for eight months before Mercedes had to go to school in Georgia ."



Oh that's good. So, how old is she exactly?" Papa Gates asked

I knew this question was coming.. "Well... Emma is twenty-one years old. Going on twenty-two this October."



My dad was silent for a moment, and I knew he was trying to find something to say. "W-well, Brian I didn't expect her to be so young. You are going to turn thirty-three in July and you are dating someone eleven or twelve years younger than you. I can't really say this is the best decision you've ever made so far. I mean, do you even know for sure if this girl is mature enough to even want, or better yet, handle a relationship with you right now?" Papa Gates asked curiously.
Dad, Emma is very mature for her age. She's taken care of me when I needed her to and I took care of her when I knew she needed me to. She and I are pretty serious and she hasn't really given me a reason to think otherwise." Brian replied


"I'm just warning you Brian, you two may be into each other and everything because the relationship is still hot and fresh. But what's going to happen six months or a couple of years from now? Matter of fact, what's going to happen the day you and the guys decide that it's time to retire? Do you think Evelyn is the one that is going to stand by you forever? You could be forty-five years old and trying to take time off with her, while she's barely turning thirty-three or thirty-four and she's still young enough to find someone else if she wanted to. Dating a girl younger than you, especially by ten or eleven years rarely ever works out. So, does she really love you, Brian Haner Jr? Or does she love the idea of being the main squeeze of Synyster Gates?" Papa Gates asked.

That was a question I couldn't answer right away. A part of me was getting angry by all of the negative talk my dad was giving me about Evelyn, but at the same time, I knew that he was right. I sighed. "Dad, I don't know what her true intentions are with me in the future. And I sure as hell don't know if she and I are going to last as long as the band is still alive, but for right now, I am willing to take the risk on seeing just how far this is all going to go. She's told me that she loves me and I've already told her that I love her too. And as far as I'm concerned, she's the only girl making me happy. So I'm taking my chances on this relationship. I do want her to meet all of you, but not until everything has settled down a little bit."

Well, you're a grown man Brian, I can't tell you what to do and what not to do anymore. If this girl is making you as happy as you claim, then I will be supportive of this whole thing. I can't speak for your mother, Suzy and McKenna on this one though." Papa Gates said

I chuckle a little. "Thanks dad."

No problem son. Tell you what, how about after the divorce is over with, give it at least one more month after that and we can all talk about you bringing her over for a meet and greet. If this is as serious as you say, then you know you have to bring her over for us to meet her. That will be a test in itself. And since Zacky is like a second son to me, he will have to bring Maria over too so we can meet the woman who will be reproducing little Zacky Vengeances."

Just when I was about to speak again, Matt taps on my shoulder and signals to me that the cab is outside. "Well dad, I got to go. The cab is outside waiting for us."

"Alright, well be safe. Love you son."

"Love you too."



I hung up the phone and looked to see that the guys were already going outside, but Zacky was still fast asleep next to me. I debated in my mind to leave him there and on a regular basis, I would. But since he's going to have a baby soon and has been having one hell of a time taking parenting classes with Mercedes over video chat when he has free time, it would be wrong of me to leave him here. Plus I'm sure Maria would bitch about it. This is for her. I stood up and grabbed my luggage and moved Zacky's luggage out of the way. I then grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him off of the bench he was sleeping on, letting him fall flat on his face. "Ow." He mumbled.


He slowly got up and dusted himself off. "You're such a dick, Syn."


I flipped him off and he returned the favor by flipping me off too. "Let's go. We only have the rest of this month to go before we can go back home to our girls." I said before rushing to the door to get to the others.

Once we got to the hotel, I was able to get my own room, which I haven't had in a really long fucking time. I might as well enjoy it. I start placing my luggage in the tiny closet and grabbing everything I need for in the bathroom, and then my cellphone beeps twice. It was a text message, and something was telling me to check it. After putting down everything where it needed to go, I went over and grabbed my cellphone to see who had text me at this hour. I knew it wasn't Evelyn because she sounded pretty sleepy when I was talking to her earlier, and it is morning time here in Australia so I don't blame her for falling asleep. Once I unlocked the screen, I flipped over to my text messages to see that Michelle had text me.



M: "Hi baby. I miss you and I've been thinking a lot about you lately. I know I have been bad and I'm so sorry for that. But I will be honest and say that if you are truly divorcing me for this girl, then you are making a huge mistake. She will rob you blind Brian, she's young and dumb. What makes you think that she won't? As your wife still, I know we aren't divorced yet, I am hoping that we could give our marriage another try. I know you and the guys are touring in Australia at the moment, I've seen it on your website, but I hope that when you get back to California we can get together and talk things over. I promise to get help in controlling my drinking and my anger. Please Brian, one more chance is all I ask. When you get to see this, shoot me a text or call me. I love you."

Great, now what am I supposed to do? I have my dad telling me not to trust Emma because she is young, and now Michelle comes back from MIA for months with the same fucking message, and begging me to give her one more chance. I debated whether or not to even text her back, already this day was off to a bad start. I placed my phone inside a drawer next to the bed and laid down in hopes to get some shut eye. This was going to be a long two weeks.
Two weeks later.

"We're here!" Johnny bursted out loud in the seat next to me. His voice so loud that it startled me awake and scared the shit out of everyone else in the plane. I looked out the window to see that we were landing at LAX, and then I balled my fist and punched Johnny on his shoulder. "Ah! What the fuck was that for?"

"For being an annoying short shit. A simple 'Syn wake up, we're fixing to land' would've been just fine. Asshole." I haven't been getting much sleep lately because during our time in Australia, Michelle called me and would text me more than once saying that she really wanted me back. Every now and then, I would reply to her and tell her that it's over and I really want to get this divorce. She would tell me that I was just in denial, but it's really her that won't accept that I'm not in love with her anymore. I haven't told anyone about this because I don't want them accusing something that isn't true and it somehow leaks to the press.

The press have already known about both Maria and Emma since after the incident at the strip club a couple of months ago. Now Emma is known all around as the gold digger and Maria is known as the bitch having Zacky's baby and the people who hate them are already making assumptions that Evelyn is just a whore and Maria is lying about the baby even being Zacky's. All of these things we ignore, it seems the fangirls who obsess over our private lives seem to never leave alone of who we are dating and always give the girls a bad rep. But on the other hand, the girls themselves have become quite famous and have even been offered professional modeling jobs in Los Angeles. Maria will model for maternity clothing and makeup. Emma will model makeup and Hot Topic clothing, and sometimes Victoria's Secret lingerie for both work and for me. The girls have even gained their own fan base and get fan mail left and right. I would say that they are both more loved than hated, but that doesn't matter to me or to Zacky. What matters to us is that we love them and they love us.

We get off the plane twenty minutes later and make our way into the airport to get all of our stuff. Luckily we are well known around here to where we don't really get bothered a lot by fans asking for autographs and pictures. I can't say the same for Emma and Maria. As soon as Zacky and I grab our belongings, we look to see a crowd of photographers moving closer towards us in a circle as well as a group of fans asking for autographs from somebody else. I look to see that they were all crowding the girls as they tried to push their way through to get to us. Zacky and I both rush to their aid and next thing I know, we are all surrounded by screaming fans and paparazzi. We all eventually make our way through the crowd and rush out to the cars. I gave Emma a kiss before leaving the parking lot and driving the rest of the way back to my house in Huntington Beach. "Well, looks like you and Maria have grown into the lifestyle of fame just fine." I chuckled.

She smiled at me. "Oh gosh babe. I have no idea how you and the guys can do this every day."

"In time, it will eventually get easier to handle. You just have to remember to keep the facts straight." I gently rested my hand on her upper thigh and gave it a light squeeze. "I missed you baby." I smiled at her.

She giggled a little. "I missed you too. So did anything interesting happen while you were out?"

I sighed as I focused on the road of getting back home. I knew that I couldn't lie to her even if I wanted to. She would find out eventually. "Well, Michelle came into contact with me."
The smile quickly faded from her face and quickly pressed her lips together into a hard and straight line. "Oh really? What did she want?"

"She kept telling me how she wants me back and how she's getting help for everything she is having problems with. A bunch of bullshit."

"And what did you tell her?"

Something was telling me that she wasn't going to believe me. "I told her no. I told her that I didn't love her anymore and that I don't want her back." I moved around to pull my cellphone out of my pocket and unlocked it for her before handing it to her. "Here. All of the text messages that she's sent me the entire two weeks before I came home."

Emma took the phone from my hand and skimmed through all of the messages. When she realized that I was telling the truth, she locked the phone again and placed it in the cupholder. She then gently grabs a hold of my hand and intertwines her fingers with mine. "I love you so much. I didn't mean to make you think that I was calling you a liar."

"It's alright baby. It's a habit of mine, Michelle used to call me a liar all the time and I would have to show her everything on my cellphone to let her know that I wasn't lying." I gently squeezed her hand and she squeezed mine back. "I love you too."


The rest of the car ride was spent listening to the radio and discussing about her meeting my family sometime in the next month or so. Meeting my family was something Evelyn has been wanting to do for the past month and a half and one thing that has been bothering me about that is if my family is even going to like her. I will love her and continue to be with her regardless, but it's really important to me that she and my family really connect with each other to make things a hell of a lot easier. A few hours go by and Evelyn and I make it back to my house and the first thing we do is race into the house and into the bedroom to make love for the first time in three months.


Three hours later...

"Brian, I've been thinking. What if you talking to Michelle is a good thing?" She looked up at me.

I raised an eyebrow and looked down at her. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, Michelle hasn't talked to you since you had her sign the papers. What if you pretending to give her a second chance and take her on a date is the only way you will be able to get her to the court house to get everything finalized? She obviously won't do it on her own free time."

This was starting to make sense to me. "So what you're saying is, I should pretend to give her a second chance just to fool her and take her to the court house?"

She nodded slightly. "Well yeah. Unless you want to wait until she's met someone else? God only knows how long that will take."

I have no idea why I didn't think of that. "And you will be okay with that?"

She sighed. "If it means that we can be together and be comfortable about it, then yes."

I smiled and kissed her softly on the lips. "I will give her a call tomorrow. But as for today, I'm all yours." I kissed her once more and slowly made my way back on top of her during the kiss. She wrapped her arms around my neck and opened her legs for me to get in between. I slowly slid myself inside of her and she arched her back and let out a pleasured moan. Thrusting slowly in and out, she tugged on my hair and bit down hard on her bottom lip to hold back a scream. As soon as I started moving a little faster, my cellphone started ringing. The first time we ignored it and continued on. The second time the person called back, it started getting a little annoying, but we ignored it.

"Just don't answer it baby. Who ever it is can wait." She breathed out.

We continued on until about the fifth time this person called. At this point, Emma and I were beyond annoyed with this call so we finished quickly and I moved to answer my phone. It was Johnny. "What?!"

"Well fucking hello to you too asshole."

"Johnny, I just saw you a few hours ago. What the hell do you want? I'm a little busy right now."

"Are you and Emma fucking?"

"What do you want?"

"Gross. Anyway, Matt and Val tried calling you guys earlier but nobody was answering, they wanted to know if you two were up for Sunday breakfast tomorrow?"

"That's what was so important?"

"Yeah. You know Valary wants to make sure ahead of time that everyone is coming."

I sighed in frustration. "Yeah. Tell her we will be there." I hung up the phone. "I'm sorry baby, that was Johnny. He just wanted to know i-" I turned around to see that Evelyn was passed out. I smiled and kissed her before laying back down and falling asleep right next to her.



The next morning Emma and I were up pretty early because Val likes to start these things so damn early, too early for all of us. Emma and I took care of our own bathroom needs and got dressed and left to the Sanders home. She slept a little along the way, and I didn't blame her. When we arrived at nine in the morning sharp, I woke up Emma and escorted her inside the house. Everyone was there except for Zacky and Maria. Which surprised me because Zacky is usually the first one at the door when it comes to Sunday breakfast, I just hope he told Maria that she didn't have to cook anything today.

We all gathered our food and sat around at the table laughing, talking and eating and then Zacky and Maria show up an hour and a half after we did. They looked pretty happy, like they wanted to tell us all something, but were trying to hold it in. I slipped it out of my mind as we all carried on with the family breakfast. It was great, everyone looked so happy. Just then, Zacky stood up. "Guys! I need your attention for just a moment." Everyone grew quiet and stared directly at him. He sighed nervously as he grabbed Maria by the hand and gently pulled her to where we can all see them.

"Zack, what are you doing?" Maria asked with a smile.

"Maria, I love you more than I've ever loved anything or anyone in my entire life. Every day that I wake up next to you is a day filled with joy. And now that we are going to have a baby in five months, the only thing that could make me happier is hearing the right answer to this." Zacky then kneeled down in front of her and pulled out a small blue box and revealed a diamond ring inside. Everyone in the room gasped and Maria was already crying tears of joy. "Maria Annabelle Scott, will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?" He smiled at her.

Maria had both hands covering her face as she laughed and cried at the same time. After attempting to dry her tears by just fanning her eyes with her right hand. She smiled at Zacky and nodded. "Yes! I will!" Everyone cheered and took pictures as Zacky slid the ring on her ring finger on her left hand. He then stood up and kissed her passionately and picked her up and twirled her around once before setting her back down on her feet. The rest of the morning was spent looking at the ring and talking about a wedding. In no time they already decided that they wanted to get married sometime before the baby was born, maybe a month before so it won't be so hard to find a wedding dress.


After a few hours, Emma and I left back to my house and we relaxed outside in the backyard for an hour or two, enjoying the beautiful Sunday afternoon. As we rested on a lounge chair together, my cellphone beeped twice and I pulled it out of my pocket to see who it was.

M: "Hey stranger. Call me, I want to see you today. ;)"

Emma looked at it and rolled her eyes. "She's getting on my nerves baby." She said annoyed.

"I know babe. Mine too. But are you sure you want me to do this today?" I asked looking down at her.

She nodded. "Yes. The sooner this gets done, the better it is for us."

"Okay." I sighed before kissing the top of her head and pressing the call button on my phone and putting it on speaker for Evelyn to hear. It rang twice before Michelle answered.

"Hey there handsome."

'Play along' Emma mouthed to me. I nodded and cleared my throat a little. "Hey beautiful. I was wondering when you were going to text me."

She giggled. "Well, I figured you would be in town by now. I can't stop thinking about you."

"Me either. I've been thinking over a lot about what you said, and I think you're right. What do you say you and I meet up in about an hour at Johnny's Bar and talk things over?"

"I would like that. But what about your little girlfriend?"

I could feel Emma squeeze me a little tighter before I answered. "She doesn't have to know. It's like you said, she's young and dumb." 'I am so sorry' I mouthed to Evelyn after saying my last sentence.

Michelle laughed a little. "Okay. I will see you in a couple of hours. Later, sexy man."

"Bye, sexy lady." I said before hanging up the phone and making sure it was hung up.

"Well, great job I guess." Emmasaid sarcastically.

"Baby, I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean that. I love you." I moved her closer to me to kiss her on the lips.

She kissed me back. "I know baby. I love you too. Now get dressed, you have a last date with your soon-to-be ex-wife." She said with a smile before taking me by the hands and pulling me off of the lounge chair. I have no idea how well today is going to go, but if this is the risk I have to take for Emma and I to be together, then it will be well worth it.

Notes

Here's an update c: