XO (FOB FanFic ft. Brendon Urie)

[Chapter 14] Keep You Safe

"Claire!" I exclaimed, jumping up from the office chair and rushing out into the front room. As I rushed down the not-very-long bedroom hallway, I added, "I know what street they're on! I'm a step closer to-" I was cut off when I saw who was at the door. "Elisa..."

She shifted her eyes away from Claire over to me. "Patrick!" She pushed Claire to the side and rushed up to me, enveloping me into a hug like she had a week ago when I came home to get my things. I hugged her back tightly. "This is where you've been?" She asked, not letting me go.

"Elisa, it's not safe for me to be home with you," I told her, stepping out of the embrace but keeping her in my hold, "I'm sorry."

"So you're staying with her?" She glanced back at Claire who had her arms crossed over her chest and was watching us with a puzzled look on her face.

"Yeah...she, um...I woke up beside her after I was knocked out," I explained.

Elisa jerked her head back in my direction, "Knocked out!?!"

"How else do you think whoever kidnapped him could've gotten him to where he woke up?" Claire responded before I could.

"No one asked you, Claire," Elisa growled, looking back at her once again. I'd never seen Elisa be like that. She was usually a friendly, happy-go-lucky person, kind to everyone. Claire rolled her eyes and brushed past us and into the bedroom hallway. Elisa returned her attention to me once more and swiped her thumb across my cheek. "I want you to come home, Patrick."

"I know, Elisa, but I can't."

"Who says?"

I hung my head, "I don't know. Claire said-"

"So she said you couldn't." Before I could argue, she took a step away from me and put her hands on her hips, "Why are you even listening to that? You don't even know her, for Pete's sake!"

"I've gotten to know her..." I tried to convince my wife, along with myself. "Look, Elisa, I miss you. So much. But I don't want to put you in danger. Please, go home."

"No, not unless you're coming with me." She interlaced her fingers with mine and slowly looked up at me. That's when I noticed the tears in her eyes. "Please, Patrick, I can keep you safe, if that's the problem. I can keep you safe."

"But you don't know what from, Elisa," I took a step away from her. She crossed her arms and gave me a confused look. "I don't even know what from. But what I do know is that I don't want you getting hurt. I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt because of something I got pulled into."

"I won't get hurt, Patrick!" Elisa cried, "And so what if I do? Please come home. At least then I know you're safe. With me."

"I'm safe here," I muttered under my breath, not being able to look at my wife. I scratched behind my neck and added, "Please, Elisa, go home." I glanced up at her before looking back down at my feet, "I'll come home as soon as I find the guys, I promise."

"Fine. But I don't want you staying here another minute with that bitch, so you better find them fast," She spun around quickly and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. I heaved a sigh and walked over to the couch, sitting down and putting my head in my hands.

"Some wife you got there," Claire's voice sounded. I lowered my hands and looked over at Claire who was standing to the right of me, looking down at me with arms folded over her chest.

"I don't know what her deal is," I replied. Claire sat down beside me, resting her feet on the coffee table and looking over at me. "She's usually not like that."

"Maybe she's moody because she's pregnant," Claire suggested. I shot her a shocked look. "What?" She giggled, "I'm just joking, Pattycakes. Chill." I sighed in relief. "What if she was, though?" Claire proposed, staring up at the ceiling. I did the same. "Would that be your reaction? A look of shock and horror?"

"It was not a look of shock and horror," I detested, briefly looking over at her before returning my attention to the white ceiling, "I'm just...I'm not ready to be a dad yet..." I admitted to her, hanging my head and beginning to twiddle my thumbs in my lap, "I mean, it'd be cool, I guess. But I've just got too much going on right now to be a dad."

"You do know there is nine months before a baby is born, right?" I glared at her, which in return, caused the corner of her lip to curl up. I rolled my eyes. "And it's not like you're not going to find your friends by then," She added. "I mean, you've got to. We only have what, seventeen days left?"

I gasped, remembering what I wanted to tell her before Elisa showed up. "Right. Hey, I wanted to tell you something. I'm a step closer to finding them."

"Oh, are you?" She retorted in a teasing manner.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm serious, Claire. I've made the image clearer and you can see the street sign. Come on, I'll show you," I jumped to my feet and extended my hand out to her. She placed her hand in mine and I pulled her to her feet. The two of us walked back into the office, only to see that the computer screen was smashed to pieces and the computer tower was smoking with sparks flying out of it.

"My computer..." Claire muttered in disbelief.

I walked up to the mess and picked up the post-it note stuck to the shattered screen.

I hope you looked closely at that street sign, Mr. Stump. -XO

I cocked my eyebrow in confusion. Of course I read the street sign closely, I thought to myself, Well, as close as I could. I could only do so much to make the small detail sharper.

"What'd XO say?" Claire asked, looking over my shoulder. I showed her the note. "So you got the street name? Where are they?"

"Um..." I scratched behind my head, "St. Louis?"

"St. Louis Ave?"

"Yes."

"North or South?"

"I can't remember."

She bit her lip and turned away from me, "Either way, those are just residences. What residence would have a..." She walked over to the small desk where our little collection of XO's pictures and notes were taped onto the wall. She snatched down the three individual pictures of Joe, Andy, and Pete. She turned around to face me, showing the pictures as if she was going to do a card trick, "...these rooms?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

She looked at the pictures herself before turning around and taping them back up.

"Do you know how to get to St. Louis Ave from here?" I asked her.

"Yeah, that's where Brendon-" She cut herself short and her eyes widened.

"What?" I inquired, taking a step closer to her, anticipating her to finish her sentence.

"That...That's where Brendon and I used to live," She muttered, walking past me and sitting down on the couch, putting her head in hands. "I lived there before I left him and moved here. I'm pretty sure he...he still lives there." I stood there for a little before turning to face her.

"So Brendon's the one-" I began to say when she cut me off.

"No! Brendon wouldn't do something like this!"

"Claire, you can't-"

She stood up and shoved her finger in my face, "No. Brendon wouldn't do something like this." I swallowed hard and averted my gaze to my feet. She slowly lowered her hand away from my face before turning away and disappearing into the bedroom hallway, where she slammed the door behind her like she had about an hour ago. I heaved a sigh, shaking my head.