The Lost and Brave (Adopted by Ray Toro)

Drowning Lessons

•Angel's P.O.V•

I looked at them each in turn, wondering if I should continue, would they hate me when they learned the truth? Would Ray give me up? I guess that I'm going to find out, because before I can stop myself I'm continuing. "Then one of the guys she brought home, Brad, did something horrible. I-i was just a little kid, I d-didn't kn-know that it was w-wrong." I choke out on the verge of tears, before I can go on, Gerard hugs me, "You don't need to tell us the rest." he whispers in my ear, rubbing circles in my back, trying to comfort me. "Angel, did you fall down the stairs again?!?" Miles yells running over to me, Gerard barely moves in time before Miles ks launching himself at me. "No, I didn't fall again Miles, Gerard was just tickling me." I tell him, smiling my best smile, hoping that he'll believe me. I see Frank and Jamia behind Miles, giving me and thumbs up, and Miles smiles, then runs back outside to the the girls. "Nice save kid." Frank smiles, I smile back "It's harder than it looks." Everyone laughed at that, and like a sheet, the sadness in the room was replaced by happiness, if only temporary. "What do you want for dinner?" R- I mean my dad, asked me, "Hmmmmm, pasta." I tell him, carefully standing up. "Frank can you help me?" I ask, him, reaching out for his hand. "Yeah, where we goin'?" he asks, picking me up bridal style, I point to the stairs, and he nods. "Where's your room?" Frank asks once we get to the landing, "To the right." I reply pointing to the door next to Christa's old office.

"This isn't you, like the vibe in the room doesn't match the vibe you give off." Frank remarks walking into my bedroom, I giggle "Well, we'll have to see if dad will help me fix that." Frank looks at me confused, "Ohh yeah, he hasn't told you guys yet." I say. "What hasn't he told us?" Frank asks, setting me on the bed, "He should be the one to tell you, not me." I reply, getting nervous, I start to feel like that walls are closing in around me. "Angel, breathe, it's okay, you're okay, I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry." Frank says, pulling me into a hug, and stroking my hair, I swallow and pull away. I turn around and carefully crawl onto the bed, and grab my phone that I left up by the pillows. "Let's go back down stairs." I said, setting my feet down on the carpet. "I want to try to walk this time." I tell Frank when he moves to pick me up, he looks at me and laughs putting his hands up, "Alright mini fro." I smile at the nickname, and gently push him, he gets dramatic and drops to the floor yelling, pretending to be hurt. The next thing we know, my dad, Gerard, Lyn-Z, Mikey, Jamia, and Kirstin, are all running into the room. Lyn-Z is the first to realize what happened, and begins laughing. "What the hell Frank, you scared the shit out of us!" Gerard shouts at the shorter man, who is laughing as hard as Lyn-Z, I'm laughing as well, but stop when I see my dad shoot me a stern look.

I cough, "I asked Frank to help me get my phone, we were playing around, and he called me 'Mini Fro' so I pushed him, and he got all dramatic." I stated tensing up, waiting to get hit, but nothing happened. I saw relaization with over dad, and he pulled me into a hug, "I know you were just playing, and I would never, ever hit you." I nodded, and broke our embrace, smiling at the the thought of walking down the stairs on my own this time. "Okay, so who wants to witness me falling down the stairs this time?" I laugh, and then Lyn-Z picks me up, "Nope, there will be no more falling tonight!" she says, carrying me out of the room. "Dad, you forgot to tell them!" I exclaim when we reach the bottom of the stairs. Everyone expect Ray looks confused by my words, "Oh yeah, guys, Angel was the child I had before Beau, but her mom ran off with her, I've spent years looking for Angel, and her mom but nothing ever surfaced. Then we met and the hospital by chance." Ray explained, to the group. They all looked confused, and a little doubtful, until grandma Toro showed them my birth certificate with Ray's signature.

Lyn-Z turned around, picking me up once more, running with me through the house. "Daddy!" I yelled laughing reaching for Ray, as we passed by, he laughed and chased after us. Lyn-Z suddenly stopped, I looked up, and saw that we were by the pool, and Lyn-Z had a mischievous smile on her face. "No, no, don't throw me in I can't swi-" my scream was cut off by Lyn-Z throwing me in the pool, not aware that I can't swim.

•Lyn-Z's P.O.V.•
I threw Angel in the pool as a joke, but then she didn't come up, right away. "Where's Angel?" Ray asks smiling. "I threw her in the pool" I tell him, turning my gaze back to the pool, realizing that she wasn't gonna come up I jumped in, with everything on. I soon found Angel, and grabbed her, dragging her back to the surface. "Ray, grab her!" I yelled, swimming over to the edge of the pool. Gerard and Ray pull Angel up out of the pool, and lay her on the concrete, I pull myself up, and feel for a pulse. "She has a pulse, but it's fading." I tell them, and I go to do CPR. "Come on, Angel, don't leave us when we just got you back." I cry, pressing the girls chest down, trying to pump the water out. I don't know if I could live with myself, if I let her die, she's, Ray's only baby left. I can't let her die, "Angel, breathe." I say tears clouding my vision, as I continue working on her. "Come on princess."

~A/N~
Ahhhhhhnother cliffhanger. Who knows what will happen? I sure don't.