FicWad

Title: Again I go Unnoticed- Dashboard

Corbin could do nothing but stare at Patrick in shock. Love? She backed away from him.

"Patrick...no...I told you not to..." she began. She really was in shock, she warned him not to do this.

"I know what you told me but I can't help it, Corbin. I've fallen in love with you and I tired so hard to stop it but I couldn't. I love you and our daughter, nothing more," he replied, desperately trying to convince her, he slowly felt the threads being pulled away from the freshly mended pieces of his heart. She backed away from him, sitting herself down in the rocking chair. Her heart was beating too fast, part of her wanted to love Patrick, the other part knew she couldn't love Patrick - it wasn't right. The look on his face right now was making her feel ill, what was she going to do?

Corbin mentally began beating herself up, her life was torn between two men, one of which never left her side for nearly four years, the other was the father of her child. She didn't know what to do. She was deeply in love with both of them, each for a variety of different reasons. They completed the picture in her mind of the ideal man; she just wished they could fuse together and become one person.

Patrick felt himself blush; he couldn't believe she was doing this. He put his heart out for her to grab and she basically threw it down at his feet and drug it across the carpet under her shoe. He shook his head and turned away from her, walking to the living room. Corbin watched him go with a solemn face; she didn't know what to say. She felt that it was important to try to explain the situation to him, to convey what she was feeling as well, but she didn't know how. She had never come face to face with the need to express her emotions and feelings with no other way out.

Slowly, she stood and began her trek outside of the nursery, dreading the necessity of expressing herself. She stopped in the middle of the hallway and pulled out her cell phone. She took a deep breath and braced herself. She began to shake as the other end started to ring, she needed to throw up.

Ten minutes later, Corbin found herself in the most dreadful of all situations. She stood uncomfortably in the middle of the living room, shifting her weight and clamping her hands across her daughter, desperately searching for a small amount of comfort. She glanced up from her tummy, seeing Pete sitting on the love seat, glaring at Patrick out of the corner of his eye, while Patrick was sitting on his couch, intentionally ignoring the tension in the room behind his laptop. Corbin cleared her throat, causing both of them to look at her. She shifted once more, gripping her stomach, fearing her vomit might just spill over her lips without any warning.

"I...uh..." she began. She didn't know what she was doing or how she was going to do it. Somehow, she had to tell Pete that she had been sleeping with Patrick and she had to tell Patrick that it was impossible for her to love him the way he wanted her to.

"Corbin, just tell me why I'm here. What's going on?" Pete said, hating the vibe he was getting. She sighed, decided to start with some good news, hoping to ease the tension in the room.

"Well, to start, I'm having a girl," she said, smiling at Pete. He didn't smile back.

"Awesome," he said dryly. Corbin frowned. This was getting harder by the second.

"Ok...well, I have to tell you something and you're not going to like it at all. I just want you to know how sorry I am," she began. Patrick quietly sat his laptop on the couch, becoming aware the she was about to tell Pete their secret. Patrick silently braced himself for a fight. He was going to fight for her...

"Don't," Pete began, standing up. He walked over to Corbin and looked her in the eyes, "what do you take me for? Do you really think I'm stupid, Core? I know what you've been doing; you've never been able to keep anything from me. I don't know why I continue to give you chances when you just take them and me for granted. You just think that I'm always going to be around to catch you when you fall and to be there when no one else will. But I can't play this game with you anymore. Go be with Patrick, see how long he stays around. He will NEVER be able to give you what I gave you. You'll see. You'll never find another person like me. You can search the world until you die. I was it, Corbin. The only man who was ever going to love you without boundaries or excuses," Pete blinked harshly, tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. He had to do it. He needed to let her go. He needed to forget all about this and the pain she was causing him.

Corbin opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She wanted to scream out loud. How could this be happening to her? She was truly losing the love of her life and there was nothing she could say this time to save it. Pete glanced at Patrick, who was sitting awestruck and the words that just came out of his mouth. Patrick suddenly felt unsure if this was really what he wanted. Pete began walking away from the pair of them, wanting to get outside and into his car. He didn't know how he was going to live with himself alone in that house, but he was going to figure something out.

Corbin looked at Patrick; she saw the doubt creeping across his eyes. Her face scrunched up and tears slipped out of her eyes, she was watching Pete walk out of her life forever. He heart wasn't beating, she stopped breathing. This wasn't happening...

"PETE!" she yelled. He didn't turn around. She sobbed heavily.

"PETE!" she yelled again, this time the sadness in her voice causing her words to shake. "PETE! PLEASE!" He still didn't turn around. Corbin felt all the life drain from her body, and felt a twinge of pain in her stomach. The front door slammed shut and Corbin feel to her knees.

"Pete," she repeated, burying her face in his hands. Patrick backed away from her, he didn't want this. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He quickly found himself running out of his front door, just in time to see Pete shut his car door. Pete glanced out his window, seeing Patrick looking at him in alarm. Pete shook his head at him, not wanting to even be friends with him anymore. Patrick continued to walk up to his car; he wasn't going to let him leave like this. He needed his friend. Pete sighed and rolled down the window.

"Please don't leave like this. I need you, man. Please. Don't do this to her, she needs you even more. I'm sorry for everything, but I can't help but love her," Patrick said. Pete saw the normal sincerity in Patrick's eyes and heard it in his voice.

"And you know that I can't be treated like this. Why did you do this to me? That's my girl, you stepped on my territory and you know that I can't just forgive you. You have to gain my trust back, both of you. You know I can't breathe without that girl and it just doesn't make sense. Why, Patrick?" Pete asked. Patrick sighed, he really wasn't sure.

"I don't know, dude. I guess I'm just caught up in the fact that she's carrying my child. I just want to be able to bring my little girl up in the most conventional way possible. I mean, let's face it, this shit is really odd," Patrick said with a smile. Pete tried to fight a grin, but let a small one play on his face. "You know you didn't mean anything you said to her in there. You could never be without her," Patrick added. Pete looked up at his friend and nodded.

"No, I can't. My life means nothing without her in it."

********

Corbin sobbed softly to herself, feeling completely alone for the first time in ages. Even her baby wasn't consoling her. She slowly stood up on wobbly legs, feeling worn out. She didn't know what she was still here for. She found herself wishing Pete wouldn't have cared enough to save her life the night she overdosed, she was wishing he would've just let her die...

She determinedly walked up the stairs of Patrick's house, rounded the corner at the top of the stairs to his bedroom. She began to feel herself shake again, nervous and scared at the thoughts in her mind. She walked into the master bathroom and rummaged through the drawers. She came across the item she wanted and backed herself up to sit on the edge of the bathtub. She let tears continue to fall down her cheeks, seeing a few splash on her jeans. She took a heaving breath and closed her eyes.

She pressed the edge of the blade against the veins in her wrists and bit her lip as the pain surged through her body. She yelped as the blade slid deeper, pressing until she couldn't feel the pain anymore. She yanked her hand away and opened her eyes, the blade clattering against the linoleum. She sat watching the blood run across her wrist and dripping to stain her jeans. She breathed deeply, finally feeling the numbness she had been searching for. She stood up, holding her wrist out, and walked to Patrick's bed and laid down, falling asleep with the vision of her life slowly slipping out of the crimson line the continued to spread out over her arm and across the sheets on Patrick's bed.