The Second Annual Post-MCR Barbecue was in full swing. Frank was grilling veggie burgers, Ray and his wife were entertaining the kids, Mikey was too busy talking to his girlfriend to pay attention to anything, and Alien was sitting there and sulking.

He knew that he should be happy. He thought that he would be by now. He'd defeated his demons, he'd chosen his health over his art, he'd broken up the band when it stopped being something special, when it was only hurting him. It had been over a year since they'd called it quits, and Alien was working on a new project, one that felt fresh and exciting and different from anything he'd done before. He knew that he should be happy, but every time he smiled, it felt forced. Maybe it was just because all of his bandmates were here. Maybe it was just because being with them was digging up old memories.

"Burgers are ready!" Frank exclaimed. Everyone rushed over to get one, and once they all had their food, the four ex-members of My Chemical Romance decided to sit together.

"It's good to see you guys," Ray said. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," Alien said as he sipped his coffee. "The last few months have been pretty hectic for me."

"Me too, but at least I have Gerard to get me through it," Frank said.

"Aww, thanks Frank," Alien said. He gave Frank a quick peck on the lips, while Mikey rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Mikey. You and Kristin are even worse about PDA."

"We are not!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Yes, you are."

"Quit bickering, you two," Ray said. "I've been listening to the music you guys have released, by the way. It's really amazing."

"Thanks, Ray," Alien said.

"Yeah, it means a lot," Mikey said. "I still need to finish that Electric Century album one of these days though..."

"Do it," Alien said. "'I Lied' was awesome."

"Thanks," Mikey said. "I'll release more music...eventually. I don't think you can bug me about it until you finish Hotel Oblivion though."

"I'm working on it! I swear!"

"He says he's working on the next volume of Umbrella Academy, but then I usually find him working on something else or just tweeting about comics instead of writing them," Frank injected.

"Frank! That is not true!" Alien exclaimed.

"It's true," Frank said.

"Okay, maybe it's a little true," Alien admitted.

"It's okay," Mikey said. "You can take your time. I just want to find out what happens."

"Mikey, I don't know if I say this enough, but you're my favorite brother," Alien said.

"I'm your only brother," Mikey pointed out.

"Exactly."

All of a sudden, Bandit ran up to their table. "Fwank!" she exclaimed. "Watch this!"

She pretended to play her cardboard guitar, and Frank soon joined in. Ray and Mikey kept talking, but Alien paid no attention to them as he watched his daughter and his boyfriend. It warmed his heart to see the two of them playing together, and he thought about just how lucky he was to have both of them in his life.

Alien finished his food and drank his coffee, while Frank kept on playing with Bandit. "Wait a second," Frank said. "I think I still have Pansy somewhere. Do you want to see it, Bandit?"

"Yeah!" she exclaimed.

"Okay, I'll go get it for you," Frank said.

"Uhh...maybe that's not a great idea?" Alien said as he set his coffee mug down on the table. He'd told the other Gerards to hide, but he wasn't sure if they'd listened to him, and he didn't know what would happen if Frank found out about his other selves, about time travel.

"No, Dad!" Bandit said, pouting. "I wanna see Pansy!"

Alien sighed. "Fine," he said.

"Mikey, do you want to come with me?" Frank asked.

"I guess so," Mikey said.

Alien watched Frank and Mikey go inside, and he wondered how Youngblood, Revenge, Pepper, Poison, and Figment were doing. He knew he'd traveled here before, but he couldn't remember it, no matter how hard he tried. Those memories were long gone.

Two years. He had two years left before the bus crash, before he'd lose Frank if Figment's crazy plan didn't work. He thought of the twisting metal, the cracking bones, the price he would have to pay if they couldn't save Frank. He couldn't let Frank die. He didn't know how he'd live without him. He didn't know if he would live at all, or if he'd just fall into pieces. What would he do without the love of his life? What would Bandit do? Would she grieve with him, or would she grow up, with Frank nothing but a distant memory to her?

Two years wasn't enough time. Then again, this was Frank he was talking about. Alien suspected that he could spend an eternity with him, and it still wouldn't be enough.

"Are you okay, Gerard?" Ray suddenly asked. "Is there something going on?"

Alien didn't answer. Those images were still flashing through his mind. He could see it now: Frank's lifeless body in his arms, the light behind his eyes gone forever. He'd known for a long time that the accident would happen, but now that he didn't have much time left, he was more scared than ever that something would go wrong, that he would have to face life without Frank Iero.

"I don't want to talk about it," Alien finally said.

Ray shrugged and said, "Okay."

"I think I'm going to go get more coffee," Alien said as Ray took another bite out of his burger. He reached for his coffee mug, but it wasn't there. Alien cursed under his breath as he quickly searched around for the mug, knowing that Figment would probably kill him if he found out that he'd lost the time machine.

"Hey Ray, have you seen my coffee mug?" Alien asked.

"No," Ray said. "I'll help you look though."

"That would be great," Alien said. He got up and went to each table, carefully checking to see if anyone had seen a coffee mug. "It couldn't have gone far," he said to Ray after both Kristin and Christa claimed that they hadn't seen his mug anywhere. "I had it just a minute ago."

All of a sudden, Bandit ran up to Alien, clutching his coffee mug. "Hey Bandit, could I have that back please?" Alien asked.

"No!" Bandit shouted.

"Why not?"

"There's Show and Tell on Monday, and I wanna bwing this," Bandit said.

"Bandit, I have a lot of coffee mugs," Alien said. "You could bring one of the other ones. Maybe you could take my Star Wars mug? You like that one, right?"

"No!" Bandit exclaimed. "This one!"

"Bandit, you don't get it," Alien said. "I need that one."

"No! I need it!"

"I can't do anything unless I have my coffee."

"But I need it for Show and Tell!"

"Bandit, give that back," Alien said.

"No."

Alien sighed. He hated to discipline his daughter over something like this, but he also couldn't risk Bandit taking Figment's time machine. "I'm going to count to three, and you haven't given me my mug back, then you're going to your room," he said. "One..."

"NO! IT'S MY MUG!"

"Two..."

"Ooh, what does this button on the side do?" Bandit asked, her tiny fingers hovering over the button.

"Don't you dare touch that!" Alien shouted.

"Why?"

"Because I said so. Could you please just give me my mug back?"

"No."

That was when Alien reached over and tried to take the time machine away from her. He had no choice. He had to get it back before she did something dangerous with the time machine, before she got hurt. However, as he pried her fingers off of the handle, she started to cry. He backed away suddenly as she tightly held onto the coffee mug and sobbed.

Alien stood there for a few minutes, but once her tears died down a little bit, he gave her a hug. "Shh...it's going to be okay," he said. "Can I please have my coffee mug back though?"

"No," Bandit said.

All of a sudden, Frank and Mikey came back into the backyard. Apparently, they hadn't found Pansy, but they both looked quite sad. Frank's eyes were red and puffy, as if he'd been crying. Alien wondered what had happened in there, but he figured he'd get an explanation later.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Mikey said. "You two annoy me sometimes, but I can't imagine life without either of you."

"You'll be alright," Frank said. He paused and then added, "You know, as awful as that was, I'm glad that we got to talk to him."

"Me too," Mikey said. "I kind of miss those days, back when we first started My Chem."

"Yeah, same," Frank said.

"I remember when I first joined MCR, and Gerard literally would not shut up about you," Mikey said. "I'd ask him something about how to play the bass, and he'd just go on and on about how he was designing T-shirts with Frank Iero. You weren't even in the band yet, and he was already obsessed with you."

Frank smiled and said, "I never knew about that."

"Well, it's true."

Alien, for one, had no clue what they were talking about. He was still trying to get Bandit to give him the time machine back, but she wouldn't budge. "Bandit, I'm begging you," he said. "Give me that mug back."

Bandit wasn't listening. "Fwank!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw him.

"Hi Bandit," Frank said, smiling.

"Where's Pansy?" Bandit asked. "You said you would get Pansy."

"I couldn't find it," Frank said. "I'm sorry."

Bandit pouted, and Alien said, "Hey Frank, could you tell Bandit to give me my coffee mug back? She seems to listen to you."

"Bandit, give Gerard his mug back," Frank said.

"No," Bandit said.

"Why do you need it anyways?" Frank whispered to Alien. "Couldn't you just get another one?"

"Trust me, I need this one," Alien said.

Frank turned back to Bandit and said, "Could you please give Gerard his mug back?"

"But Show and Tell!"

"That's a pretty good argument," Frank said to Alien. "How about this? Bandit gets to keep the mug, and I'll brew you some coffee to make up for it. I'll make it just the way you like it."

Normally, that would have sounded like a good idea, but Alien needed that coffee mug. He wanted to explain it all to Frank, but he had no idea what would happen if he did. He vaguely remembered Figment telling him something about telling other people about time travel being illegal, and he didn't want to risk it.

He looked back at Bandit, who was busy telling Frank about her grand plans to name the mug Cuppy and introduce it to her other toys before she brought it to Show and Tell on Monday. Alien knew that he had to find a way to get that mug back before Figment returned. He couldn't screw this up now, not when they were so close to saving Frank, and more than that, he couldn't let Bandit play around with something as dangerous as a time machine. He should have been more careful, but there was nothing that he could do about that now. He just had to get the time machine back before something went horribly wrong.