Happy Miserable Mess (FOB/Patrick Stump FanFic)

Chapter 3

I pulled into my driveway about twenty minutes later and walked into my house. My mother appeared from out of the kitchen.

"Hi, mom," I greeted sadly, setting the keys to my car down in the little dish on the small table that sat by the front door. "How was Parker?"

"Oh, you know Parker. He was a darling, as usual. How was the party? Did you have fun?"

"I had a few drinks by myself," I replied, shrugging my shoulders, "No one really talked to me, not even my friends. And when people did talk to me, all they would say is how sorry they were and how bad they felt for me."

"Oh, Patrick..." My mom pouted and rubbed my upper arm gently. "It's going to be okay." I gave her an incredulous look.

She kissed me on the cheek and told me she was going to leave. As she was getting her things together, she requested that I call her the next day so that she knew I was still alive. I told her that I would, but I didn't.

My mother closed the door behind her and I walked into the kitchen, picking up the mail I brought in earlier that day and skimming through it.

I almost had a heart attack when I heard a faint "Daddy?" come from behind me.

I slowly glanced over my shoulder to see my son standing in the threshold between the kitchen and the front entryway. He was dressed in his little Batman pajamas and in his arms was an old teddy bear of mine. It actually was the one I'd won my wife at an amusement park we went to while we were dating.

"Parker, what are you doing up?" I set the mail down and turned around so I was facing him, putting my hands on my hips, "I thought Grandma Stumph put you to bed."

"She did. But I can't sleep," He murmured, his grip on the teddy bear growing tight, "I want Mommy, Daddy," He whimpered before he began to sob.

I frowned before walking up to him and picking him up. I started to bounce on my feet and sway side to side in an attempt to calm him down. He cried into my shoulder and I could feel his small, fragile body being wracked by the violent sobs he was producing. It hurts when your kid is crying and there's nothing you can do to make them stop.

"I do too," I croaked, "I do too..." I was fighting to keep myself from letting my guard down and crying with him. He couldn't see me weak like I really was. He just couldn't.

I stood there for a little more until he had calmed down. "You okay?" I asked him. He never answered me, he just rested his head on my wet shoulder, his breathing still a little shaky as he recovered from crying. "Let's get you back to bed," I whispered before walking upstairs to his bedroom with him still in my arms. I laid him down in the crib that he was slowly growing too big for and pulled his blankets over him.

Parker sniffled and looked up at me with red and puffy eyes. "Where's Mommy, Daddy?" He asked sincerely, his cheeks wet from the tears streaming down his face. "Is she still sleeping?"

I chuckled dejectedly, "Yeah. She's still sleeping."

"Can you wake her up?" He pulled the blanket even higher up on him, exposing his little toes, "I want her to tell me a bedtime story."

"She can't tell you a bedtime story, Park," I swallowed hard, "She's sleeping."

"When will she wake up then?" He muttered innocently, his green eyes glistening with tears.

I sat down on the edge of his mattress (because one wall of the crib had been taken down so he could get in and out without having to scream for either his mom or me to let him out) and sighed, "She's not waking up for a long time, Parker."