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Dear Patrick,
How's the record coming along? I bet it's doing great. Can't wait to hear it!
Well, I wanted to e-mail you and tell you that... I'm moving to Europe. It's so huge and kinda scary, but I'm so excited for it. And I thought you should be one of the first to know. It's such a great opportunity and I love Europe. And I won't be alone because Danny's coming with me. That's another thing, we're engaged! We haven't decided on a date for the wedding - there's so much to sort out, but be sure to wait for your invite!! What would you guys think about performing at the wedding reception? Nothing's definite yet but if you did we would give you a list of romantic songs to play!! We were thinking of living in London when we go to Europe, it's so friendly there and the atmosphere is awesome - plus I have a good shot at becoming a model!!
I'll contact you later with my phone number, etc.
Tell the guys I said hi!
Christina.

"She's back with Danny? Jesus. He really is stupid. And look at this! 'Tell the guys I said hi'! Not one mention of the kids." Patrick sighed.
"Dude, I think you should be more concerned that she's moving to/ Europe/. I'm guessing if she moves there and doesn't even bother to say hi to the kids, then she probably won't be worried much about seeing them." Andy said reasonably.
"I can't believe she's engaged."
"I can't believe she asked us to perform!" Joe objected.
"I can't believe she invited you." Andy replied.
"Yeah, well, I bet there's nothing more she'd love than for Patrick have to watch her walk down the aisle in a white dress knowing she's not walking up to be beside him." Joe called from the kitchen.
"This sucks, you guys. I used to imagine how our wedding would look. I was so sure I would marry her. She's the only person I've ever seen myself marrying. And if we ever did have kids before we go married, like now, then they would be a flower girl or a page boy, you know? And they'd wear this little dress or a mini tuxedo and walk down the aisle behind Christina, and they'd be hold..." He cut off as he caught everyone staring at him, shaking their heads to imply shutting up.
"Or, you know... I just thought we'd get married someday." Patrick got up off his seat and flopped onto the couch.
"This blows."
"Well, think about it. Would you rather be here with your kids and us, or stuck married to some physco girl who doesn't exactly... love her children?" Joe asked, coming out from the kitchen and joining them in the living room.
"Hey. She's not that bad." Patrick said, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, yeah, sure, she's a great catch apart from the fact she breaks people's hearts, fucks them around, fucks around, literally, had two kids with a rock star and doesn't even care, marries the guy she left..." Joe started, counting on his fingers.
"Alright, Joe, that's enough thanks." Patrick said, holding his hand up. Joe shrugged and jumped onto the sofa next to Pete, who had been asleep.
"Ah, what?" He snorted as he woke up, looking at them as if he couldn't remember who they were.
"Hey, sleeping beauty." Andy laughed. "Have a nice kip?"
"I, uh, yeah..." Pete said, sitting up.
"Dreaming in a land far, far away?" Joe teased, ruffling Pete's hair.
"Yeah. Being back to reality is great." Pete said sarcastically, moving his head out of Joe's reach.
"I better go." He said, getting up, "I have to go and meet Jenny off the plane."
"Are you gonna ask her about the guy?" Patrick asked. Pete ran his hands through his hair. It was obvious to see it was tearing him apart and he didn't want to talk about it. He shrugged with his hand on the front door.
"I don't know. Maybe." He said, and shut the door behind him.

"Aww, come on man. It'll be fun." Pete whined over the phone.
"I can't, no, I'm sorry." Patrick replied into the phone. Pete had been bugging him for ages, trying to wheedle him into accepting a dinner invitation from Amanda, the new PR, where they could meet, get to know her and discuss various subjects involving their work and their schedule. Patrick refused. It sounded too much like Pete was trying to set him up. And as far as Patrick's morals went, well... he didn't have any about being set up with a beautiful woman. He just knew it wouldn't be a member of his staff and he wouldn't leave his kids so some other girl could screw him over.
"Dude, someday your kids will be thankful for the days you go out for dinner and leave them the hell alone."
"Pete, stop it. I'm not going."
"Come on, Patrick. It's one dinner. One lousy dinner."
"Exactly. Lousy." Patrick replied.
"Look, we'll only be like three hours. Four tops. I promise. Jenny can babysit. It'll be good for her, and for you."
"Oh, you're fine with Jenny now?" Patrick asked, desperately trying to turn the conversation around.
"Stop changing the subject./" Pete said. "/Come on, Patrick, please?"
"I don't know..." Patrick said, beginning to break.
"Come on! We'll be gone for a while, then you can be home in time to tuck them up in bed." Pete said quickly, realizing Patrick was weakening. He always did.
"I..." Patrick stammered and then held his hands up in defeat. "OK. Three hours tops."
"Three hours." Pete repeated, turning around and giving Joe and Andy the thumbs up in his living room.
Patrick groaned as he threw the phone down onto his bed. He walked through to the living room where Danielle and Josh were playing with various toys.
"Your dad's a whore. A big fat dirty whore." Patrick said to them, collapsing onto the couch. "You're not even half a year old and I have a crush. Mind you, I'm calling myself a whore, your mom is a whore." He put his hand to his mouth as the words slipped out of his mouth and Danielle shrieked with laughter. He shook his head at her, his hand still over his mouth.
"If that's your first sentence, I will actually die."

The next night, Patrick had almost had to be dragged away from the house by Pete, Andy and Joe. They were already running late and Patrick was reciting a list to Jenny hurriedly.
"There's bottles over there, uh, they have toys in their room if you want to play with them, and if you need anything, my cell is on, and..." He was cut off by Pete tugging his arm.
"Come on!" He hissed. He kissed Jenny goodbye.
"Bye baby." Pete whispered lovingly, giving her a wink. He was trying his hardest not to let his suspicion show, and attempting to make Jenny feel more secure and comfortable out here in a new city.
"Bye sweetie." Jenny replied, looking straight at Patrick as he was still attempting to get a word in edgeways over Pete.
"I'll be home in a while." Patrick called, and the door slammed shut in his face as he was about to speak again.

"There she is. Man, look how hot she looks, huh Patrick?" Joe whispered as they waited to be shown to their seats in the restaurant.
"Joe, shut up. This isn't the place to start ogling women." Patrick hissed out of the corner of his mouth.
When they were shown to their table, Pete, Joe and Andy hurriedly greeted Amanda and sat down, leaving the only seat left for Patrick next to Amanda. He tried not to scowl in Amanda's view as he shot them warning glances as he greeted her and sat down.
"Fashionably late. Typical rock stars, right?" Amanda laughed, showing her perfectly white teeth.
"Sure we are." Pete said, hastily picking up his menu. He moved slightly as he discreetly kicked Joe and Andy under the table. Joe opened his mouth to protest, but Andy shoved one of the complimentary rolls in his mouth just as he was about to speak.
His voice came out muffled as he moaned, and Andy laughed nervously at the curious look Amanda was giving him, and the face of thunder that was clouding Patrick's face out of Amanda's view.
"Haha, he just really loves rolls." Andy lied, raising his menu to his eye level, covering his view.
"That was the /plan/." He whispered cautiously, and Joe took the roll out of his mouth.
"Ohhhh. Right. Gotcha." He replied, nodding slowly.
"Oh, shit, I forgot, I had that... meeting with the company." Pete said, hastily standing up.
"I'm so sorry." He apologized, saying his goodbyes and disappearing quicker than he had arrived. Andy widened his eyes at Joe as Amanda and Patrick both looked back at their menus, Patrick sighing and muttering 'idiot', under his breath.
Joe began to choke and clutched at Andy in desperation. Andy stood up and grabbed Joe.
"Oh my God! He's choking!" He said urgently, silently praying the other guests wouldn't notice and call for help. Patrick and Amanda looked scared and shocked, about to stand up, frozen at the sight of Joe.
"Oh my God!" Patrick said.
"I know! It must be food poisoning. I'll take him to the hospital!" Andy said quickly, helping Joe up.
"We'll come." Amanda said, dropping her menu on to the table.
"No, no. It's fine, really. I got him. He'll be fine. We'll try and get back. You go ahead." He said, and pulled Joe away, causing stares from guests around them. Amanda and Patrick looked at each other, then when they caught each other's eye, they both cleared their throats and picked up their menus again, pulling their chairs in further to the table for something to do.
"Food poisoning from bread, huh?" Amanda chuckled. Patrick raised his eyebrow.
"It could happen."
"Oh, come on, Patrick. It totally couldn't."
Patrick shrugged, silently seething at his friends and the inconsideration of them. They knew how much trust he had lost in people, women especially, when Christina had cheated on him. He sat quietly for a few minutes, politely laughing at appropriate times, and listening to Amanda's casual conversation.
"So tell me about your kids." Amanda said inquisitively, looking Patrick straight in the eye. He straightened up, shocked. She really was different from other people, how many other people would enquire about someone's kids when on a so called 'date'?
That's when Patrick opened up. Usually, music would get him talking for hours on end, listing his inspirations or songs he considered masterpieces. Just one mention of David Bowie would have him chatting away all night long. That used to be the only thing Patrick could talk freely about. Until now. The mere mention of his kids brought a smile to his face, and he couldn't shake the feeling of how much he missed them as he talked. He then realized that he was talking a little too much, and clammed up quickly.
"Sorry." He said bashfully.
"That's OK." Amanda said kindly. "You're obviously a very devoted father."
Patrick blushed and played with his napkin under the table, but immediately stopped at the thought of what Amanda could think he was doing under the table. He nodded.
"I guess I am." He said quietly.
"So, why are you here, Patrick?"
"Uh... well, Pete called me up and..." Patrick was cut off.
"I mean why are you here? I mean, I guess you could say we're now on a... date." Amanda finished. "Why are you here if your wife is at home with your kids?"
"I'm not married." Patrick said, embarrassed, showing her his left hand. Amanda nodded.
"Where's your girlfriend then?" She asked. Patrick knew that she knew damn well fine he didn't have a girlfriend. She just wanted him to say it.
"I don't have one." He mumbled in reply. She nodded again, trying not to smile.
"So..." She began to talk but Patrick cut her off.
"I'm a single parent. My ex girlfriend and I had a bad break up but I'm not exactly comfortable talking about it with strangers." Patrick said, standing up. This woman may be stunningly beautiful, but that didn't give her the right to drain every detail out of him, especially since, whatever she said, it wasn't a date. She might be way out of his league, but that didn't give her the right to cash in on his secrets.
"Sit down, Patrick." Amanda said, taking hold of his arm. He froze and slowly lowered himself back into the chair. He sat back and waited for her to talk, because he sure as hell wasn't.
"I'm not a journalist." She whispered. "I just want to know you."
"Yeah, well, it takes a long time for me to trust people." He muttered.
"I understand, that's how people feel after break ups."
Patrick nodded and looked around the room for something else to concentrate on. He didn't like, no, loathed/... /despised talking about his break up. It had consumed him for so long he still had trouble accepting it.
"Are you ready to order, Sir?" A voice from his side said, snapping him out of his denial.

"You have very clever friends." Amanda said quietly to Patrick as he walked her to her apartment building.
"Yeah, Andy was actually studying..."
"No," Amanda said, leaning closer, "I meant for tonight. Very clever of them."
"Huh?" Patrick asked, confused.
"Come on, like Pete always books the table at the same time as a 'meeting'."
"Pete booked it? He told me you had!" Patrick objected.
"And no one is poisoned from bread. Seriously." Amanda laughed. Patrick stared at her pearly white teeth, and her full round lips. He found his stomach fluttering, for the first time in a long while.
"Well, Joe's always been a bit..." He stopped and swallowed nervously as Amanda leaned in closer and closer to him until he could smell her.
"Weird." He finished, and felt his lips against hers as he broke off. His stomach flipped several times as he realized what was happening, and he quickly broke off as Amanda wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Look, Amanda, I can't..."
"Why not?" She whispered, placing a kiss on his lips that he allowed to linger a little too long.
"Because... I have kids." He whispered, his heart physically aching to see them at that moment. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to return home, sing to them until they fell asleep after he put them to bed, and climb into his own, alone and filled with that warm sensation of family life.
"They're too young to understand." Amanda said huskily, running her finger down his cheek.
"But I'm not." Patrick said, shaking his head away and stepping out of her grasp.
"Patrick, I under..."
"No, you don't understand." Patrick said quickly, "If you understood, you wouldn't be trying to seduce me. You work for my /band/. And my kids are my whole life, and I've been through so much to get them this far, been hurt so many times and not retaliated the way I should, that I can't bear to throw it all away. Even if it's for someone as wonderful as you."
Amanda took this in, taking a deep breath and looking at him. Patrick felt his heart sink. This was killing him. He had finally found someone else he was attracted to, someone he had connected with, and he couldn't go through with it.
"I'm sorry, Amanda."
"I know you are."
"It's just... my life is finally fitting together, and though I would love a woman in my life, I don't have room for one. One baby daughter and an emotionally detached ex is enough for me to handle. There's so much stuff hurting me right now that I can't even talk about it. I just think it would fuck me up even more if I got involved with a woman such as yourself and for some reason it didn't work out. You know?"
"Yes. I know."
Patrick nodded once and bit his lip, hoping he hadn't sounded too harsh, but relieved he had gotten it out of his system.
"I love my little family unit. I know it's missing some things but at the end of the day, it's me and my kids. And I love them with more than everything I have." He said, feeling ashamed that he was embarrassed to say it. He shouldn't be embarrassed about it.
"You're a wonderful man, Patrick."
Patrick blushed in the darkness and looked away.
"I mean it, you're truthful, but not to the point of hurting someone. You know how to tell them no without hurting them."
Patrick couldn't bear to hear anymore compliments. He had enough from people he didn't even know, though he knew it was different.
"I better go."

When Patrick closed the front door and threw his keys on the table, he found Jenny asleep on the couch, and his heart raced as he prayed Danielle and Josh were in their beds and not roaming around where they could hurt themselves. True, they couldn't even crawl, /but you never know/, he thought. He was about to make his way down the hall without even waking Jenny up first, when he heard a small laugh from behind him. He turned around to see Josh and Danielle sitting up in their playpen, Josh asleep against the gate and Danielle smiling at her father's return.
"Heyyyy, baby. God, I missed you guys so much." Patrick said, about to bend down and pick her up, when he heard Jenny rise from the couch.
"Oh, sorry. I heard from Pete you liked to sing them to sleep, so I tried to keep them awake. Pity I couldn't do the same for myself." She said, with a quiet laugh. Patrick smiled.
"Thanks, Jenny. I really appreciate it."
"Oh, no problem." Jenny waved the thanks off and took her coat off the back of the couch.
"I better be going."
"Alright." Patrick said, suddenly realizing how tired he was himself. She passed him as she walked to the door, and gave him a quick hug.
"Anytime you need me, I'm here." She whispered in his ear before they parted. He looked at her, and Jenny looked at him, within seconds her lips intertwined with his own.
What the fuck is she doing? Oh my God. Is there a daddy gene that makes women want you? Patrick wondered, not returning the feeling of lust he was receiving from Jenny.
Oh my GOD! Jenny!
Patrick yanked himself away and backed against the wall.
"What the..." He broke off before cursing in front of the kids, anger boiling inside his chest but as usual, he didn't show it.
"I thought the past few months we'd connec..." Jenny started, but Patrick angrily held both his hands up in protest.
"The feeling isn't mutual. Get the hell out." He said, pointing to the door, still maintaining the modesty not to swear.