FicWad

The One Where Pete Falls Apart
Patrick awoke with a jump to the sound of his phone vibrating on his night stand. Squinting in the dark, he glanced over at Addison who was still asleep and grabbed his phone. He slipped out of bed and tip toed into the hallway.
"Pete? What's going on? It's two am!" He exclaimed in a whisper, stumbling in the dark as he quietly pulled his bedroom door shut. He felt his way along the walls as he made his way to the stairs.
"I know. I'm sorry." Pete replied. "I'm at your door."
Patrick gave a quiet sigh as he descended the stairs.
"Oh dear." Pete managed a small laugh at the sight of a dishevelled Patrick opening the front door.
"Are you trying to break everyone else's relationships up?" Patrick asked, raising one eyebrow. He knew he could get away with the sarcasm, because he needed to make Pete laugh. Pete smiled weakly at him and shrugged.
"I'm sorry. I just can't go back home. It's too..." he trailed off.
"I thought you were going to Australia?" Patrick said, his eyebrow still raised, gesturing Pete to come inside. He led him through to the kitchen, where Pete collapsed into a chair and lay his head on the table while Patrick switched the kettle on.
"Yeah, well... once I got a few miles down the road I started to think straight. Maybe I shouldn't go rushing over there while my head is such a mess and while I'm so angry. I'd just say something I'd regret later and fuck things up even more."
"Nothing like a 24 hour flight to plan what you wanna say, though." Patrick added, moving one of Danielle's toys out of a seat and sitting down opposite him. Pete lifted his head up and frowned at him.
"You didn't want me to go in the first place, now you're telling me I should?"
"No, I don't mean it like that." Patrick shook his head. "I mean maybe you should talk to Rachel, arrange a time to go over and then you can figure out what you wanna say before you get there. That's all I'm saying."
"I can't talk to Rachel. She won't return my calls. I can only speak to her when she wants to speak to ME." Pete said, thumping his head quietly on the table in frustration.
"What's going on?"
Pete's head snapped up so quickly it cracked and sent a shooting pain up to his head. He rubbed his neck as Patrick looked around at the kitchen doorway.
"Hey, baby. Did we wake you?"
"Yeah." Addison said. In his mind Patrick was hoping she wasn't going to start an argument in front of Pete, or God forbid, with Pete.
"I'm sorry to call at this time of the morning." Pete explained. Patrick looked at his feet, praying things wouldn't kick off. You only had to look at Pete to see he was going through a hard time. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair was tousled from the amount of times he had run his hands through it.
Patrick watched her for a few seconds and could see her mind ticking over, and closed his eyes as Addison walked over to the table. He heard the scrape of a chair as she sat down.
"I'll go..." He heard Pete start to say, but his sentence cut off. Patrick opened his eyes to see Addison embracing Pete as they both sat next to each other. She held him and after a few tense seconds, Pete relaxed and bit his lip as she ran a hand up and down his back.
"You'll go nowhere. You're family." She whispered. Patrick watched them with a bittersweet feeling in his chest. He was so proud of her, so appreciative that she had embraced Pete rather than turn him away that he almost felt himself fall in love with her all over again. Patrick stood up quietly and started to make three cups of tea. He had just finished filling up the mugs when he heard a quiet sob. He turned around to see Pete's head buried in Addison's shoulder, tears running down his face although he desperately tried to hold them back. Addison was still running her hand up and down his back.
"It's okay, Pete." She said quietly. She caught Patrick's eye and she didn't need to say anything. This was between them, something only they would share, and for once, Patrick was glad. He was so awkward in situations like this but Addison wasn't. She just seemed to make everything seem more stable. Patrick nodded at her in understanding and leant against the counter, looking at the floor as Pete cried.
"Mommy! I had a bad dream!" The three adults looked up at the sound of Josh's tearful voice, and as he did every time, Patrick smiled slightly at the sound of Josh calling Addison "mommy".
"I'll go." Patrick whispered, standing up straight as Pete attempted to wipe his tears discreetly.
"Can I go?" Pete asked, just as quietly. It broke Patrick's heart to look at him, so vulnerable and child like at that moment. He felt fiercely protective of his best friend, and at that moment in time, it was almost a fatherly protection. Patrick grinned at the thought of Josh's reaction when he saw Pete, and nodded.
"Of course you can, you're his Uncle." Patrick told him. Pete stood up and as he did, caught Addison's eye. They didn't need to speak either, Pete's grateful expression said all it needed to. Addison smiled at him and he left the kitchen. Moments later there was an excited yell as Josh spotted Pete coming into his bedroom, and Patrick and Addison both grinned in unison at each other.
"There's been a lot of tears in this house tonight." Addison said, almost sadly. Patrick was still leaning against the counter, watching her and wondering when on earth he had gotten so lucky. Silently he pushed himself away from the counter and walked over to Addison, pulling her up to face him.
"And a lot of love, too." He said seriously, his eyes locked on hers. She looked back at him and he pulled her close to him, kissing her so deeply she could feel the emotion in her stomach.
"I don't think those kids are gonna get much sleep tonight." Patrick said with a smile.
"Doesn't look like it does it?" Addison replied with a small laugh.
"Thank you." Patrick said after a while of silence.
"For what?"
"Being you."

Thirty minutes later, Patrick stood in the kitchen alone. Addison had gone back to bed after making a spare bed up for Pete to sleep in, and he hadn't come back downstairs. Stifling a yawn, Patrick climbed the stairs. He was glad the house was in silence, he had thought Pete making an appearance would have kept the kids up all night with excitement but it looked as though Danielle and Riley had slept through the noise.
As he walked past Josh's bedroom, Patrick stopped. Pete was sitting on the floor leaning against Josh's bed, flipping through a book while Josh slept soundly. Patrick wasn't sure how Josh had fallen back asleep, once he was excited he was usually up for the whole night.
He leant against the door frame and crossed his arms.
"Hey." He said under his breath. He startled Pete, who had been either too engrossed in the book or had his mind miles away. He got to his feet and walked over to Patrick.
"Thanks for this." Pete said, nodding towards the spare room.
"Hey, you got my kid back to sleep, I owe you one for sure." Patrick grinned.
The two men stood in the hallway, Patrick watching Pete with a concerned look on his face as Pete traced his finger around the book he had in his hands.
"I've read that Winnie the Pooh book so much I know it off by heart," Patrick smiled, still watching Pete, who smiled faintly. His mind was clearly still far away.
"Me too." Pete replied dejectedly, looking at it. He looked up and sighed. "You know, I love this book, but at the end of the day all it prepares you for is that someone's gonna grow up and eventually forget about you."
He smiled sadly at Patrick, who bowed his head and nodded. He reached over and took the book out of Pete's hands and shook his head.
"Then go back to page one, you moron."