FicWad

Pete woke up with a jolt looking around at his surroundings.

"Fuck," he whispered to himself and sat up rubbing his eyes.

He was hoping that when he woke up everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours were all a really bad nightmare. Hell, he could handle nightmares. He had medications to handle nightmares.

He sat there continuing to rub his eyes listening to Andy's soft snoring in the background. He then heard Patrick talking in a hushed tone. Pete's head snapped up when he heard a female voice respond.

Pete bolted up and ran to Collette's room.

Both Patrick and Collette looked over at Pete confused. Collette looked exhausted, but she kept that small smile plastered on her face.

"Holy Shit!" Pete burst out.

"Hi, Pete," Patrick said simply.

"You're ok?" he asked walking into the room now.

"Well, I'm alive," Collette smiled.

Patrick grabbed her hand and smiled at her adoringly. She smiled back at him.

"Holy Shit," Pete said again still in shock.

Patrick and Collette just looked at him confused again.

"You told her," Pete said answering their unspoken question.

Patrick blushed fiercely looking down.

"Told me what?" Collette asked confused.

"That he loves you," Pete smiled now.

"How the hell do you do it?" Patrick asked sounding frustrated.

"I just do," he shrugged.

"Pete will you do me a favor?" Collette asked changing the subject.

"Yeah, I'll go get Jackson right now," he said leaving the room.

"How does he do that?" Pete heard Collette say as he walked down the hallway with more spark in his step.

-----

Pete walked into the house and immediately smiled at the sound of cartoons on in the living room.

"Knock, knock," Pete said loudly.

"Pete!" he heard Jackson yell and then heard his little feet run in his direction.

"Hey kiddo!" Pete said scooping him up into his arms and hugged him tightly.

He never wanted to see this kid in the shape that he was the day before. He wanted to protect him from all that was bad in the world.

"Pete, is she ok?" Wren asked holding her breath.

"Yeah, she's awake," he nodded towards her keeping his tight grip on Jackson.

"Oh thank God," Wren said almost breaking down.

"Want to go see CoCo?" Pete asked Jackson.

The small boy just nodded his head. He looked tired.

"Alright, let's get you into some clothes," Pete said walking more into the house with the child still attached to him.

-----

Collette opened her eyes when she heard a slight knock at the door.

"Ms. Locke?" the detective asked.

"Yes, come in," she said motioning for the chair.

The detective walked in confidently and stood at the foot of her bed.

"I have some questions to ask you, if that's alright?" he asked pulling out a small notepad.

"Sure," she said swallowing hard. Her throat was still very sore.

"Do you know the person who did this to you?" he asked.

"Yes, he is my sister's ex-boyfriend and the father of her son in whom I have custody of," she said sounding tired.

"Do you know why he did this?" he asked writing down various notes.

"He's wants custody of his son, but the courts terminated his parental rights," she answered.

The detective nodded.

"Is there a Mr. Patrick Stump here?" he asked looking around the room, which was obviously not large enough for Patrick to be hiding anywhere.

"He went to the cafeteria. He should be back soon," she said simply.

"Well, we need to speak to him," he said sternly.

"Is there a problem?" she asked.

"Well, it seems that Mr. Stanley didn't make it out of surgery last night. We need to take Mr. Stump in for questioning," he said simply.

"What? He has to go to jail? He was protecting my son from that maniac and he is the one that has to go to jail," Collette said in hysterics.

"Please, Ms. Locke. Calm down. It's standard procedure," the detective tried to calm her.

"Is there a problem here?" Patrick asked from the doorway with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"They're taking you to jail!" Collette wailed.

"Mr. Stump, we need to take you in for questioning," the detective said calmly.

Patrick gave him a confused look and walked up to Collette setting his coffee on the bedside table.

"Collette calm down," Patrick said grabbing her hand.

"But you are going to jail! Kiefer died, Patrick. He's dead," she spat out.

Patrick's eyes widened and he looked over to the detective who nodded his head.

"Am I being arrested?" he asked shocked.

"No, sir. We just need to take you in for some questioning," the detective remained relatively calm.

Patrick nodded, but Collette continued to panic.

"No, it's not fair Patrick. You were only protecting Jackson," she said upset.

"Collette, breathe. It's going to be ok," he squeezed her shoulder tightly.

"Mr. Stump, we should really be getting down to the station," the detective stated.

Patrick just nodded again.

"Alright," he said quietly.

"No!" Collette cried.

-----

Pete walked down the hall with a smile on his face listening to Jackson tell him a story about some girl from his daycare. He could hear commotion coming from Collette's room, so he quickly set Jackson down.

"Jacks, stay here for a second, okay?" he asked outside of Collette's room.

"Okay," Jackson shrugged not knowing any better.

Pete walked into the room with concern on his face.

"What's going on?" he asked looking at everyone in the room

"They are taking Patrick to jail," Collette wailed.

Patrick looked over at Collette defeated. She was hysterical.

"What?" Pete asked shocked.

"I'm just going down to the station for some questioning. Apparently, Kiefer didn't recover from his gun shot wound," Patrick said trying to explain the situation.

"Good," Pete said simply.

The detective shot a glance at him, but Pete didn't care. The bastard deserved to die.

"Patrick, listen. Don't talk to anybody until I get our lawyer there, okay?" Pete said pulling out his cell phone.

"Alright," Patrick said sighing.

"No, don't leave me," Collette said crying.

"Collette, it is going to be ok. I'm just going to answer a couple of questions and then I will be back here in no time," Patrick said into her ear trying his best to calm her down.

Collette just closed her eyes and nodded. She couldn't help but feel that Patrick was going to get punished for protecting her and Jackson.

Patrick kissed her forehead lightly and walked with the detective out the door.

"Hey Patrick!" Jackson said from leaning against the wall.

"Jackson," Patrick said relieved and picked him up into a big hug.

"Thank you," Jackson said muffled into his shoulder.

"For what?" he asked.

"For being CoCo's and my hero," he said looking Patrick directly into his eyes.

Patrick laughed slightly and hugged Jackson again.

"You're welcome," he said as he set him down.

"Can I go inside now?" Jackson asked in an innocent manner.

"Yeah, go cheer CoCo up. She's a little sad that I have to leave for a little while," Patrick said still kneeling down to Jackson's level.

"Alright," he smiled and ran into the room.

Patrick smiled as he stood up. That boy could bring joy to everyone that came into his path.

"Ready?" the detective asked breaking Patrick from his thoughts.

"Yeah," Patrick said shrugging.

------

Jackson ran into Collette's room with a big smile on his face.

"CoCo!" he yelled running up to her bedside.

"Jackson, baby," Collette said crying even harder now.

Pete was in the corner on his phone watching the entire scene play out.

"Are you sad?" he asked swaying back and forth slightly.

"A little, but I'm happy that you are here," she said wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"Can I lay with you?" he asked.

"Sure," she laughed slightly.

Collette looked up at Pete who had read her facial expression and picked Jackson up, so he could lay in bed with her. She scooted over and he laid in her arms.

"I'm sorry you are hurt," he said grabbing her hand.

"I'm going to be ok," she smiled down on him.

"I love you, CoCo," he said quietly.

"I love you too, Jackson," she said as silent tears began to run down her cheeks again.

What would she have done if Patrick hadn't been there? Jackson would be gone. And now Patrick was trying to defend himself because of what that creep did. It just didn't seem fair.

-----

Patrick sat silently in the scantily clad room with the two way mirror waiting for his lawyer to show up. He wasn't too worried about this whole ordeal. He didn't do anything wrong. He knew he was in the right.

Finally the door swung open and the detective from before and his lawyer came into the room.

Patrick stood quickly and shook the man's hand.

"Patrick, nice to see you again," Mr. Avery said.

Patrick just nodded.

"Alright, well let's get on with this," his lawyer said to the detective.

"We just want to ask some questions to find out exactly what happened," the detective said sitting down.

"Just for the record, are you charging Mr. Stump with anything?" the lawyer asked.

"No. We know that it was self defense. It was pretty obvious that Mr. Stanley had broken in; his finger prints are all over the attempted murder weapon used on Ms. Locke and the gun that had been used in his shooting. We would just like to get a statement of events that had occurred, so we can have a better understanding," the detective explained.

"You couldn't have said this at the hospital? My girlfriend was in hysterics," Patrick said irritated.

"Well, she really didn't give me the opportunity," the detective shot back.

Patrick just leaned back in his chair. All he wanted to do was get this over with and go back to the hospital to be with Collette.

The detective began asking questions and Patrick began to recap all that had happened the day before. He informed the detective that he and Kiefer had gotten into a struggle with the gun when it had gone off. Patrick had no idea that Kiefer had been hit in the stomach. He said as soon as he heard the gun shot he ran in the opposite direction to find Jackson. That was his main concern. By the time he had found Jackson, the police had arrived. After that, the rest of the evening was a big blur.

-----

Pete sat slumped in the chair next to Collette's bed sleeping. He had fallen asleep watching Jackson and Collette sleep peacefully. Pete was glad that he had gotten Jackson when he had because he was sure Collette would have gone into complete hysterics with Patrick being taken off to the police station.

Pete didn't know what was going on with that whole situation, but they had a good lawyer and he had confidence that everything was going to be ok. It had to be ok. Things were just starting to get better.

Patrick sighed out loud as soon as he saw the scene that was before him in Collette's room. All the people that he loved the most were safe and sleeping peacefully.

Jackson stirred slightly and opened his eyes.

"Hey kid," Patrick whispered.

He just sucked on his thumb and waved with his fingers that were not in his mouth.

Pete opened his eyes at the sound of Patrick's voice.

"Patrick?" he asked sitting up slightly.

"Hey," he said quietly hoping to not wake up Collette.

"What happened?" he whispered rubbing his eyes again.

"They just wanted a statement of what happened yesterday. It wasn't anything to get worked up over," he said picking Jackson up at the request of his body language reaching out for him.

Collette's eyes furrowed and shot open in a panic at the notice of Jackson's presence being absent.

She sat up quickly and winced at the pain in her side.

"Easy," Patrick said putting a hand on her leg.

"Patrick? You're not in jail," she laid back and smiled at him.

"No, I'm not. It was nothing. I'm not going to jail," he said trying to reassure Collette.

He could tell by the look on her face that she was heavily medicated.

She just nodded and closed her eyes again.

"Did you talk to the doctors at all?" Patrick asked rocking back and forth with Jackson in his arms.

"They didn't say much. Just that they were keeping her in ICU for observations, and hopefully by tomorrow she will be moved downstairs to recovery," Pete said simply.

"So they say she's going to be ok?" he asked.

"I guess. She'll be in pain for a little while, but as you can tell, they have her on morphine," he said nodding at Collette laying there with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

Patrick nodded and looked at Jackson who had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

"Why don't you take him to the condo and get some sleep," Pete suggested.

"No, I'll stay," Patrick said shaking his head.

"Patrick, honestly. She's knocked out. She won't even remember if you were here or not. You need to get some sleep," Pete said standing up now.

Patrick looked over at Collette who had obviously fell back asleep and back at Pete who was just giving him the look that stated 'Don't challenge me, I'm crabby.'

"Alright. I'm going to sleep for a couple of hours, but I'm going to set my alarm and call you to come trade places with me," Patrick said to Pete.

"Ok," Pete nodded and sat back down in the chair.

"Take care of her," he said to Pete.

"I will," Pete said honestly.

Patrick walked out of the room with Jackson sleeping on his shoulder. The last thing he wanted to do was leave her, but he really did want to have some sleep.

-----

"Patrick, where are you going?" Collette asked as he started to walk away with Jackson in his arms.

"Away. I'm going away," he said simply.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"You are obviously not fit to be a mother for Jackson. I mean, look at what you let happen," he said sounding angry.

"Patrick! I tried to protect him. I left my life and my family behind for him!" she said talking loudly as to get her point across.

"It wasn't enough, was it, Collette?" he asked in a condescending manner.

"You can't take him away from me! You can't!" she yelled as tears started to pour out of her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Collette. You just aren't fit to be a mother," Patrick said shaking his head in disapproval as he walked away with Jackson.

"NO!" Collette yelled.

"No!" Collette yelled out loud and bolted up in bed only to lay back quickly at the pain in her side.

"Are you ok?" Pete asked rubbing hair out of her face.

"Why, Pete? Why did Patrick take Jackson away?" she asked crying.

"He just took Jackson to the condo to get some sleep. He'll bring him back later," Pete said trying to reassure Collette.

"No, he said I was an unfit mother to Jackson and that he was taking him away from me. How could he do that to me?" she asked crying.

Pete stood there looking at Collette with complete confusion covering his features. She must have had a nightmare.

"Collette, I think you were dreaming. Patrick would never say or do anything like that to you," he said in a calm voice.

"No, it happened. He took Jackson away," she cried and turned her head away from Pete.

Pete stood there awkwardly for a moment. How could he convince Collette that Patrick was not out to take Jackson away from her.

-----

"It's a side effect from the morphine," the doctor explained.

"Irrational thoughts?" Pete asked.

"No, hallucinations. What she dreams feels real to her, so she's going to believe it. I will lower her dosage and hopefully she will snap out of this delusional phase," the doctor said looking at his chart and writing some orders.

"Thanks doc," Pete said putting his hands through his hair in frustration.

Patrick was going to freak out when he got here and found out that Collette hallucinated that he was taking Jackson away from her.

"Pete," Patrick said walking up to him with a smile. It faded quickly when he noticed the look on Pete's face.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Where's Jackson?" Pete asked shocked.

"Joe and Wren were at the condo, so I left him there to keep sleeping. He sleeps pretty restlessly now," he said shaking his head. "What's going on?" he asked again.

Pete took a deep breath before breaking the news to Patrick.

"Collette had a dream that you told her that she was an unfit mother to Jackson and that you were taking him away from her and due to the morphine, she thinks it actually happened," Pete said in one breath.

"What?" Patrick asked shocked.

"Dude, don't make me say it again," Pete gave him a defeated look.

"She thinks I took Jackson away from her?" he asked still confused.

"Yeah. The doctor said it was a side effect to the morphine. It causes people to hallucinate. He's lowering her dosage and hoping to get her out of this phase," Pete explained.

Patrick stood there silently and nodded slightly.

"What do you think she will do if I go in there?" he asked quietly.

"It's hard to say. She's been pretty upset since the dream," Pete said shrugging.

Patrick didn't know quite what to do. He couldn't handle rejection from her now. Not after he had just gushed out all of his feelings towards her and she returned them.

"Damn," Patrick muttered and walked cautiously into her room.

Collette opened her eyes slightly when she heard movement into her room.

"What are you doing here?" she asked cruelly.

"Collette, I came to see you," he said smiling at her.

"Did you come to rub it in my face that you took my son?" she asked.

"Jackson is at the condo sleeping. I'll have Wren and Joe bring him by when he wakes up. I did not nor will I take him away from you," he said sitting down so he was eye-level with her.

"Please leave me alone. I just want to be left alone," she said and turned her head to the other side.

"I love you," he said and kissed her forehead before walking out of the room.

"She's completely delusional," Patrick said shaking his head at Pete who just stared at him wide-eyed.

"Do we get a psych consult?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Patrick said taking a deep breath. He knew things were going to be tough with recovery and such, but this wasn't what he expected.

AN: Yeah, I suck. I am way late at this update and I apologize. This story is rearing to an end. Dedicated to my DoJ missies! You girls rule!