You and I Gotta Put an End to This (Peterick)

Chapter 24

I woke up to Brendon's soft snoring and a raging head ache. I don't remember what happened last night in much detail, but I remember enough to know I did a bad thing. I crawled out of bed, silently putting my clothes back on as not to wake Brendon. I called a cab that drove me back to the bar so I could pick up my car. I know Pete is worried sick about me, and now I have to tell him what I did.

I opened the front door expecting Pete to be right on the other side waiting, but he wasn't. I walled through the house, only to find that it's empty. I climbed the stairs to my room and there he was. Laying in bed asleep.

I snuck over the closet to grab some clothes, but on the way there I stumped my toe on the dresser. I let out a holler in pain that woke Pete up.

"Patrick! Where did you go? I was so worried!" He jumped out of bed and ran to the spot on the floor where I sat when he saw me. "Are you okay?" He looked at me with this big golden eyes full of worry and I fucking lost it. The tears started to fall and they soaked my face. "What happened?" He asked wrapping his arms around me. Is your foot okay.

"My foot. My foot is fine." I said between sobs.

"Then what happened?" He stroked my hair. "I smell the alcohol..."

"I slept with B- Brendon." I cried into his chest. His hand stopped stroking my hair and he just froze. He just sat there with his arms around me as I cried. When I finally stopped his hand started stroking my hair again.

"It's okay." He said.

"What?" I asked shocked.

"We've both fucked up. We keep holding on to the past, it's like we never started over. Let us start now with a clean slate. I can't be mad at you when you cry for 30 minutes about it. Me being mad won't fix it, and I'm done being mad. I just want us to love each other. Can't we do that? We can leave everything behind. Ryan and Brendon included. I just want us, to be about us." He said looked at me. I could see the dry tears on his cheek.

"I'm so sorry." I said, kissing Pete.

"It's okay, baby." He said after the kids ended. "Go take a shower. I'll make coffee and food okay?" Pete pulled us up and kissed me again before leaving the room.

*     *     *     *     *

"I'm sorry we had to cancel our sessions there for that whole month. I've had some personal issues that kept me up."

"That's alright Dr. Stump." Amanda looked worse than ever. Her hair was tangled in some places, and it looked like she was wearing yesterday's clothes. "I've learned a lot about myself."

"Well that's good. What did you figure out?"

"None of it would have been possible without you really... You uhh... Showed me what was real."

"And what's that?"

"I know now... that he's gone.." tears started to form in her eyes. "And that really... he was never here with me. No matter how much I wanted him here, he never was, and he never will be."

"What's his name again?"

"Warren."

"And how did he die?"

"Diabetic coma." She said, beginning to cry softly.

"But that's not all there is to it, is it? You and Warren were separated when he died... You were with another man, you had his daughter...."

"And none of my son's, his stepsons spoke to him, and his only real son hated him. His girlfriend left him." Her crying slowly got more intense as she revealed more and more.

"So you think..." I began connecting the dots that lead to the sad conclusion of her husbands life.

"He killed himself. He didn't take his insulin because he had no reason to go on." She completely let go and let the sobs take over, shaking her body. I sat next to her and held her until she calmed down enough to speak again.

"Again. Explain it to me again please." I handed her a tissue from the box on the coffee table.

"I left him, and I took our child with me to another city with another man. From what I know, my son's, who he thought of as his own, didn't talk to him much, and his only real son hated him. Then his girlfriend left him. I just think... I think he lied himself by not taking his insulin shot... I think I killed him... I'm the reason he killed himself."

"Amanda... This is something that we will never know for sure, but I wouldn't blame this on you. Don't blame yourself. It won't help you any. Just remember him, and always tell your daughter how amazing he was."

"It took four days for someone to find him... I called him and told him that I was back in Chicago... and that if he wanted to see our daughter he could... but he never answered or texted back. Four days later his coworkers looked through his window and saw him dead on the couch.. with buckets of puke all around him..." She said looked down at her lap.

"I wish I could tell you that everything happens for a reason, and that I knew that reason... But sometimes even I have no explanation of what to say... I'm sorry."

"Thank you. I needed all this..."

"I don't think you will be needing to see me anymore." I set my notepad down and smiled at her. "Thank you for coming." I stood and held out my hand for a handshake.

"Thank you." She smiled as she stood, and gave me a hug. "I hope everything works out for you Dr. Stump."

"I hope the same for you." I smiled at her as she walked out of the room.

As soon as the door closed, my phone began ringing from the desk. I looked at the number and saw it was Brendon's.

"Hello?"

"Can you tell me why your boyfriend just broke my nose and gave me a black eye."

(A/N) I started a book of one shots, an all you little sluts should go read it.