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Patrick clicked his phone closed as tiny butterflies in his stomach fluttered their tiny wings at rapid speed. He walked up to the others as his whole body trembled. His brain kept sending him messages made up of excitement and fear.

"What is the quickest way to get back home from here?" he stuttered out, pacing up and down in the middle of the bus.

"Uhh," Andy scratched his head. "I don't know."

Pete stretched out his legs along the chair. "Why?"

Patrick shook his head, ignoring Pete's question. "I need to get home." he muttered. "I need to get home, I need to get home, I need to get home!" he repeated the words over and over. He stood still as his shoulder's slumped and thought over different possibilities.

"A flight from Miami to Chicago will take..." Mel clicked into a couple of different internet sites as she looked through her laptop. "Around two hours."

Patrick looked up. "Two hours?" he repeated. "Two hours?" He walked over to the front of the bus. "Stop the bus, let everybody else off and then drive to the nearest airport." he ordered.

The driver looked at Patrick, taking his eyes away from the road for a split second.

Patrick nodded his head. "Thanks."

Pete watched in confusion as Patrick came back to them. He flopped down onto the couch on the opposite side and had an odd look on his face. "Patrick, what's going on?" he asked curiously, not sure if he really wanted to know or not.

"This bus is going to stop, you guys are gong to join Joe and I am going home." he said,trying to keep his cool as breathed deeply in and out.

"Are we going to see Joey?" Cameron asked happily. "I'll be right back."

Mel nodded his head slowly, also noticing Patrick's weird behavior "Can I ask why?"

"Well, Amy's water just broke which means she's going to go into labor which means if I don't get there, I'm going to hate myself." The words rushed out of his mouth at top speed, getting faster as he neared the end of the sentence.

Andy turned around to face Patrick to show him his wide eyes. "My gosh, Patrick, Patrick, Patrick." he replied with his huge smile. "You are about to become a dad."

"He was already going to be a dad." Pete pointed out. His phony grin was plastered back on his face as he stared at Patrick. "Congratulations."

"How are you feeling?" Mel asked as the bus did a complete turn. The bus driver was on speaker phone to the other bus as they discussed where to park.

Patrick bit his lip as his eyebrows crossed. "I honestly have no idea." he said slowly, looking up.

"You're nervous, yeah?" Andy asked, wiggling his eyebrows. His smile was without a doubt genuine as he bounced in his seat. Patrick wasn't sure he had seen Andy act this teenage-girl-like ever."I was nervous too, and excited. You feel all these different emotions, yeah?"

"I don't know" he admitted, shrugging. He felt slightly embarrassed but instead of his cheeks turning rosy they just became more pale. "It just feels kind of weird, I guess."

Cameron came racing back as the bus pulled it's way to a stop. The door's sprung open as he jumped off. "Bye Patrick." he waved, standing outside.

"Good luck." Mel smiled, stepping off the stairs.

Andy went next to him and pulled him into a man-hug. "You won't miss it, trust me." he added, letting go.

"Uhh, thanks." Patrick replied. He followed him to the front bus steps where Pete was waiting.

"Have fun." Pete said, lowering his eyes. He dragged his legs down the three bus steps and stood with the others.

Patrick squeezed his eyes shut as the door's began to shut. "Wait." he ordered. The door's opened once more as everybody looked at him confused. "Can somebody come with me to the airport?" he squeaked.

Andy looked over at Patrick and then at Pete. He half-smiled and sighed. "You go." he said.

"Me?" Pete replied. "Why?"

"Just go." Andy said, shaking his head and pushing him forward. "Seeya guys. Good luck, Trick."

"Thanks Andy."

"Pete, don't worry, you look like you need the cheering up." he added laughing. Andy, Cameron and Mel waved them off before heading over to the other bus.

**
The door's swung open while Joe remained snoring on the couch. He had fallen asleep not to long ago and Chuck hadn't bothered in waking him. But, as Cameron raced in the bus, Joe's eyes flicked open. He stretched up and stared at Cameron.

"What are you doing here?" he groaned, running his fingers through his hair. His eyes met Mel's as she entered the bus, but he didn't look away. He watched guiltily as she sat down at the opposite end of the bus's front room.

"Amy's water broke." Andy replied, sitting down next to him. "So, Patrick left to go back home."

"Wow, that's awesome." he said. The bus door's closed, making Joe whip around the room. "Where's Pete?"

"Pete went with Patrick 'cause he was sad." Cameron explained. "Pete said that you were going to be sad, too."

"Really?" Joe looked down at the floor. He felt guilty for his moody behavior and bad attitude but, now he was happy again. Well sort of, anyway. "Did Pete say why he was sad?"
"Nah."

"Did he say anything?"

"He said you got a new racing game." Cameron replied, smiling hopefully.

"Yeah, it's in the other room." chuckled Joe with a weak smile. "You can put it on."

"Thanks." he called out as he ran off.

Andy shook his head, smiling as he leaned in towards Joe but his eyes were locked on Mel. "I'm going to go join Cam and I'm going to leave you two alone."

"Andy, no your not."

"Yeah, I am. " he nodded. "You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because Cameron wasn't lying. Pete told us how before you wouldn't get out of bed and now you're sitting here next to me. You look healthy and you look happy." Andy said, staring him in the eyes. "And, that's why I'm going."

Joe shook his head as Andy stood up. "Andy, no." he whispered.

"I'm going to go see what Cameron's doing." Andy explained casually to Mel. "See you guys later." He pulled the thin sheet that was separating the two rooms and closed it tightly.

Joe watched Mel from his spot of the room. The silence was killing him. Everything about the awkward situation was killing him. Closing his eyes, he strolled over towards her and sat down on the empty seat.

She peeked out from behind her magazine before feeling her cheeks go pink. "Hi." she murmured.

"How's it going?"

"Fine." she replied. "You?"

"You know what, I'm actually not that great." he said, sighing. "This is stupid. I asked you out and now we're not even fucking talking. You know, I don't care if you don't like me back, can we just go back to being friends?" he closed his eyes and smiled at himself. He couldn't believe he had just done what he had.

Mel nodded as a smile crept onto her face. "I'd really like that." she replied, softly.

"Yay." Joe chuckled as he stretched out his arms to give her a hug. Even though it was wrong and incredibly cliche , holding her in his arms just felt so right.

**

Patrick watched anxiously as the bus raced closer and closer to the airport. The roller-coaster through his mind was taking him up and down with mixed emotions. The bus lurched to his side as his roller-coaster went upside down.

Pete sat down next to him, hiding his glum expression. He watched confused as Patrick's already pale complexion turned an unusual shade of white. "Uh, you don't really look so good." he admitted.

He shook his head slowly as he held onto Pete's shoulder. "No." He stared uneasily at Pete. "I'll be right back." he added quietly. He shot up off the chair and raced to the bathroom.

Pete winced at the sounds of Patrick throwing up. "Hey Trick, wasn't the throwing up part meant to affect Amy?" he joked as he helped him up. "Seriously, what happened?"

"I don't know." he shrugged. "But, now I feel good." he added, smiling bright.

Pete peered at him. "I never thought I'd say this, but there's color back in your face." he murmured. He walked alongside Patrick to the seats at the front of the bus.

Patrick couldn't wipe the smile off his face. It was as if he had just thrown up all his nerves. It was unlikely, but it seemed incredibly true. "Guess what Pete?" he said in a dazed tone.

"What?"

He looked up at Pete. "I'm going to be a dad."

"I know, Trick." he replied. "Are you sure you're going to be alright to get on the plane by yourself?"

"After nine months, I'm finally going to be a dad."

"Um, yeah."

Patrick chewed on his bottom lip as he stared at Pete. "Can I ask you something?"

"Okay." Pete shifted a little in his seat feeling uncomfortable. Patrick had asked him a simple question but for some reason, it sent nerve-racking thoughts through his mind.

"Are you alright?" he asked. He half-smiled as Pete groaned at the question. "Lately, you've seemed so fake and depressed." he explained, adding emphasis on the word 'depressed'.

Pete took a deep breath in and shook his head. "I specifically remember you saying you were going to stop asking me if something was wrong?" he reminded with a know-it-all smirk.

"Pete, I'm just trying to be a fucking good friend so just fucking talk to me. There's nobody around, there's no fucking spies or shit." he blurted out in a fury.

Pete was taken back by Patrick's swearing. It was very rare to see even any sort of cuss word escape from his mouth. It was only when he was frustrated that it happened. "Fine." he replied, admitting defeat. "You win."

Patrick smiled in relief as his anger seemed to melt away. "Finally."

Pete buried himself lower in his seat and took his gaze away from the window. "Okay, so, you've pointed out numerous times that somethings been bugging me and I guess just all this stuff with you being a dad and Andy already being a dad, I don't know, makes me feel weird." he felt silly, to collect up all his thoughts and recite them to one of his best friends.

Patrick nodded his head, understandingly. "Weird as in how?" he asked. He quickly glanced up through the window. It was the fifth red light the bus had stopped at and it began to make him feel a tiny bit nervous once again. He really was happy that Pete was confessing all this stuff but he was just desperate to get home and be with Amy.

"I don't know." Pete admitted, looking down embarrassed at the bus floor . "I just want to find somebody awesome, get married and start a family before I get any older."

Patrick sighed, shaking his head. "You're not old Pete." he replied.

"I'm not young either." he shot back. "You're all younger then me."

Patrick tried to hide his small smile. "Is that why you've been all weird lately?"

"Yeah." Pete mumbled, bashfully.

Patrick sighed. "Give me a hug."

Reluctantly, Pete outstretched his arms. He let go quickly before showing off a small yet genuine smile. "Thanks Trick."

Patrick grinned. He was about to reply before realizing the bus was slowing down. He quickly looked out the window and saw that they had arrived at the airport. The bus slowly pulled into a parking spot as his nerves began to fire back up. "Oh, my god."

The buses doors opened as Patrick staggered his way off the stairs. Pete giggled at how unsteady Patrick's steps were. "Have a safe flight." Pete called out as he poked his head at the window. "Good luck with Amy and the baby. I promise, we'll jump on a plane the minute the last show finishes."

"Thanks Pete." Patrick shouted back. "Make sure my replacement can actually sing this time."

Pete laughed as he watched Patrick run off towards the airport building. Pete never realized, but Patrick ran kind of funny. Pete just knew Patrick was going to be an awesome dad. He just hoped that he would be too.

___


A/N: Okay, the next chapter is almost finished. I promise there won't be a long wait for the next one. The next chapter is important.