It Hasn't Been Long Enough

Emma Austen attempted to maneuver her way through the hospital in Chicago looking for her fiancé. She had arrived at O’Hare Airport just twenty minutes ago. She quickly grabbed her bags and hailed a cab, asking the driver to hurry to the hospital.

She didn’t know why Patrick hadn’t told her sooner. She would have been here with him from the beginning if only he had told her. Now, here she was, the day before his surgery, rushing to see him.

She finally reached the oncology floor and found the main desk. “Hi, I’m looking for Patrick Stump,” she told the nurse sitting there.

“I’m sorry, you can’t see him. Only family.”

“I’m his fiancée,” Emma said holding out her hand to show the nurse her engagement ring.

“I’m sorry,” the nurse repeated.

“Listen,” Emma began before she was interrupted.

“She really is Patrick’s fiancée,” Pete said, appearing from nowhere.

“Room 412,” the nurse told her.

“Thank you,” Emma said to Pete as she rushed down the hall.

As she got closer to the room, she heard Patrick talking to some girl.

“You know, I am glad to see you. Four years is a long time,” the girl said.

“I know, but you know why I couldn’t do anything,” Patrick told her.

“Yeah, I know,” the girl said with sadness in her voice, but it quickly faded. “Well, we’ll be spending a lot of time together now, won’t we?”

Emma walked in the room to see the girl, who was a nurse, smiling down at Patrick.

“Yes, we will,” Patrick smiled back. He then turned to the door and saw Emma standing there. “Emma!” he exclaimed.

“Hey!” Emma smiled running over to him. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me until yesterday that you were in the hospital with cancer!”

“I’m sorry,” Patrick said quietly.

“You are so lucky that I am completely in love with you,” Emma said looking at the nurse.

“Yes, I am,” Patrick said kissing her. “Oh, Em, this is Callie. Callie, this is Emma.” Emma looked at him for a second waiting on him to add that she was his fiancée, but he didn’t.

“Hi,” Emma said holding out her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Callie said as she extended her hand as well. “I’ve got to go check on some other patients, but I’ll be back later.”

“Bye, Callie,” Patrick said as she walked out the door.

“How are you feeling?” Emma asked turning around to Patrick, noticing he was watching Callie leave.

“Okay,” Patrick replied. “I mean I’m getting part of my lung taken out tomorrow.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! What were you going to do? Call me after the surgery?”

“You sound like Pete,” Patrick told her.

“Hey!” Emma said offended.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way! It’s just Pete said the same thing to me.”

“Patrick, you know I love you, right? No matter what happens, I’m going to love you,” Emma said, changing subjects.

“I love you, too,” Patrick said before yawning.

“I’m going to let you get some sleep,” Emma said smiling at him. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Em. I love you.”

Emma walked out into the hallway and saw Callie standing next to the main desk. “We need to talk,” Emma told her.

“Is something wrong?” Callie asked Emma as she walked over to a little seating area near the main desk that was currently unoccupied.

“I love Patrick more than anything, and I know that he loves me, too. And I trust him,” Emma began.

“I don’t understand what this has to do with anything,” Callie told her.

“I heard you and Patrick talking before I came into the room. And I don’t know if you and him had something before, but we’re getting married.”

“I know you two are getting married,” Callie said simply.

“Oh,” Emma said.

“Listen, Patrick and I were never together. He used to be one of my best friends, though.”

“Then why have I never heard him talk about you before?” Emma snapped.

“We stopped talking about four years ago.”

“Why?”

“It’s a long story, so I’ll give you the condensed version. I used to date Pete. We were completely in love, but I couldn’t handle his destructive lifestyle, so I broke up with him. Patrick felt he had to choose sides, so obviously, he stuck with his best friend and band mate,” Callie told her.

“You used to date Pete?” Emma asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, why?”

“It’s just you two don’t seem like you’d work together,” Emma said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you or anything,” she added quickly.

“Don’t worry. I understand,” Callie said smiling. “And just so you know, Patrick loves you. You have nothing to worry about. In fact, he was worried that you weren’t going to love him after finding out that he has cancer.”

“Seriously?” Emma asked. “He has to know that I love him no matter what.”

“I’m sure deep down he does, but you might want to reassure him,” Callie told her. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Bye,” Emma said as Callie walked off. Soon after, Pete came walking up to her.

“Hey, Emma, it’s good to see you here.”

“Thanks. If it wasn’t for you, then I wouldn’t be here.”

“What do you mean?” Pete asked looking at her.

“You told Patrick to tell me.”

“Yeah, I did, but he didn’t listen to me. That was all Callie, his nurse,” Pete told her.

“Your ex-girlfriend?” Emma asked him.

Pete quickly turned around and looked at her. “How did you know that?”

“Callie told me.”

“She told you?”

“Yeah. I kind of accused her of having something with Patrick and she told me she used to date you. Why are you getting upset?”

“I’m not,” Pete said quickly. “And no, she never had anything with Patrick.”

“I know that now. She said you and her used to date and then you broke up.”

“Yeah,” Pete said. “I’ve got to go.”

“Okay, bye,” Emma said as Pete walked down the hallway. She couldn’t understand why Pete was so touchy about Callie. Did he still have feelings for her?