"We're about to play a song, that we never play live, that we just started playing on this tour," Gerard said as he looked out over the crowd. It was mostly college students this time around, and after blasting through five of MCR's biggest hits - if you could call them that - the energy in the room was high. "It's called Drowning Lessons."

The band began to play, but Gerard was terrified, and he was sure that the others were too. After three disastrous performances, he was sure something would go wrong. It was only a matter of time.

"Without a sound, I took her down..."

To Gerard's surprise, the band sounded better than ever. Matt's drums and Mikey's bass were exactly in rhythm, and Frank and Ray's guitar playing was nothing short of magnificent. Gerard sang along, letting his voice blend with the rest of the band, and soon, it was perfect. As Frank jumped around the stage, wildly strumming on his guitar the whole time, Gerard ran into the crowd again, screaming the lyrics at the top of his lungs.

In all his life, he'd never felt so alive.

It wasn't until after they'd played the last chord that Gerard realized what a miracle this was. They'd never managed to pull off a competent live performance of Drowning Lessons, much less one as perfect as this.

Gerard grinned as they launched right into This Is The Best Day Ever. They soon finished off the set - the rest of the show went well, but they couldn't quite recapture the magic of Drowning Lessons. Even Deathwish seemed a little lackluster after a song like that.

As they packed up their equipment, Gerard said to Frank, "You sounded amazing out there," which, to him, was the understatement of the year. Even after being his bandmate for over a year, Frank's guitar playing never failed to impress him.

"No, you were better," Frank said. "I still can't believe that we made it through Drowning Lessons though."

"Me neither. We should play it more often."

"Definitely."

There was a moment of sweet silence, and then Gerard asked, "Do you want to come over to my place? Maybe we can...you know..."

Frank immediately knew what Gerard meant. "I'd love to," he said. Then, he winked, causing Gerard to blush furiously. He'd thought that this night couldn't get any better, but somehow, it had.

Frank quickly finished packing up his guitar and then climbed into the passenger seat of Gerard's car. They chatted and sang along to all their favorite songs on the way home, and when they finally arrived, Gerard put on Frank's favorite movie, collapsed onto the couch next to him, and gave him a long, passionate kiss.

Frank was just about to unzip Gerard's leather jacket when the phone rang.

"Caller ID says it's Donna Way," Frank said. "That's your mom, right?"

"I'm sure it's not important."

"What if it is?"

"She'll call again later if it's really important, but I can't imagine any phone call that would be more important than you." Gerard kissed Frank again and then asked, "Now, where were we?"

Frank kissed back, but only a few seconds later, the phone rang again.

"You should probably answer the phone, Gee," Frank said as he pulled away from Gerard.

Gerard sighed. "Fine," he said as he got off of the couch and picked up the phone. However, all he could hear were loud sobbing noises. "Mom?" he said. "Is everything okay?"

"It's Grandma," Gerard's mom said. "I've been trying to call you for the last two hours because she...she passed away today."

Gerard didn't know what to say. His vision blurred with tears as he collapsed back onto the couch, his heart filled with sorrow and mourning. He thought of everything she'd done for him - how she'd taught him to sing, how she'd bought the band their first van, how she'd supported him from the very beginning.

And now, she was gone.

His grandmother had done so much for him, but what had he done for her? He'd hardly seen her in the last year of her life. He'd known that she was sick, and he'd gone on tour anyways. He'd abandoned her when she needed him most. He could have been a better grandson, but he wasn't.

His mother half-heartedly attempted to console him, but it was clear that she was grieving too. Before long, she hung up, leaving Frank as his only comfort. However, not even having Frank's arms wrapped around him could ease his grief, his pain, his self-hatred.

Two hours.

His mother had been trying to call him for two hours.

Two hours ago, he had been on stage instead of by his grandmother's side, supporting her as she drew her last breath.

Two hours ago, they were playing Drowning Lessons.

Gerard got up from the couch, poured himself a drink, and downed it in a single gulp in a desperate attempt to drown his sorrows. This was undeniable proof that Drowning Lessons was cursed, but Gerard couldn't think about that right now, not when the woman who'd helped him achieve his dreams was dead.

He hadn't even gotten the chance to say goodbye.