A Chance to Walk Away

Waking up in the middle of the night, he expected to feel his wife's body next to him, but it wasn't. He wasn't alone in the bed as he should have been for the past two weeks after she caught him having sex with his ex. It wasn't his proudest moment and he regretted it everyday, but the moment he found out she did the same after leaving, hurt him and enraged him enough for him to make the mistake again. Running his hand through his hair, he looked at the body next to him and he knew he messed up again. That's all he could do lately it seemed. His wife was no angel, but when she walked in on him the first time he cheated, she retaliated, but when he did it again she didn't do anything, but pack a few bags and leave in tears. He tried going after her, but she had someone waiting for her in the driveway. Someone he couldn't see. He had a feeling it was either Andrew Ladd or Niklas Hjalmarsson. They were two of Avery's closest friends and so it was likely they knew where she was staying or where she left to.

Getting out of bed, Patrick pulled on his pajama pants and walked out of the bedroom, not caring if the woman in his bed woke up or not. Walking down the hallway, he stopped at the wedding picture hanging there. Avery looked simply breath taking. It was hard to believe that they had only been married for two years, he had been twenty-six and she was barely twenty-two. The ceremony had been a good size. They both just wanted something small and intimate, but with the guest list, it just didn't look like it was going to happen, but it was still everything they had wanted.

Married life hadn't been all that different than when they had been dating. They had already been living together for six months when they got married. Compared to most, their engagement hadn't been all that long, a year after dating, he proposed, and four months later they were Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Sharp. They were happy, more than happy and then he made the biggest mistake of his life. He never meant to let it get as far as it did, but for some reason he couldn't say no to her.

The only problem was that he was in love with Avery, they were so good together. Many people had said so. His parents loved her and more importantly, he loved her. He hadn't been thinking when he slept with the blonde in his bed, a bed he shared countless night with Avery. Everything came back to him. Walking further down the hall and went to the kitchen. For the longest time, Avery had always gotten up before him. She was always an early riser no matter what time she went to bed. She loved her routine and so did he. It worked well with his. She would get up and go for her run, come home and start the coffee, and take a shower. Usually the shower would wake him up or the smell of coffee, either way, she knew how he liked his coffee although she didn't like it, she preferred her tea and hot chocolate in the mornings.

Three days. He had three days until he would see Avery again. They planned to meet for lunch and talk. He knew if he didn't straighten up right away then he would lose her forever. She didn't deserve what he had done to her and he felt like shit over it. Twice he had cheated on her and now he had his ex in the bed he shared with his wife. There would be no way she would ever sleep in that bed again knowing exactly what he did with another woman in it. Watching the coffee brew wasn't overly exciting, but it was better than staying in bed with a woman he couldn't even look at.

“Patrick?”

Turning his head to look at her, she was dressed in her clothes from last night. When he looked at her, he felt nothing. “Leaving?”

“Yeah, I have a plane to catch,” she said. “I left my number beside the bed. Don't be a stranger.”

He walked her to the door. Only so he could unlock the door and so she would be gone. Closing the door and locking it again, he knew he needed help if he wanted to get his wife to trust him once again. He knew he'd do anything to get her back, no matter what it took. The plan for today was to get a new bed and get rid of the one that was in the house. It had to be done if he wanted his wife to come home.

Being home and not having his wife around was the most boring thing he had ever experienced. He had half a mind to go to Niklas Hjalmarsson's place to see if she was there and if she wasn't then he'd go to Andrew Ladd's place. They knew where she was and made it perfectly clear that they were on her side of the situation and they wouldn't tell him where she was by any chance. At the moment all he wanted was to wrap his arms around Avery and tell her how much he loved her while they watched one of her favorite movies on their movie nights. They had movie night once or twice a week, depending on their schedules.

Movie nights had started when they had just started dating. Avery said that her last boyfriend hadn't spent all that much time with her. Instead he would buy her things and flake out on their dates. She claimed that at times he could be the sweetest guy ever, but it only lasted six months. So Patrick had come up with movie night, where it could be just the two of them for however many movies she wanted to watch. The movie was always a surprise when it came to Avery. One week it could a chick flick and the next week it could be a horror film and he loved her for it, with everything that was in him.

That was when he had told her he loved her for the first time. When they were watching Sixteen Candles. At first he had thought she hadn't heard him, that maybe she was asleep, but it was more shock than anything else. It was a welcome surprise to her ears and she had told him that she was in love with him. He knew that Avery was a special girl and there was no doubt about it and he was lucky that he had been introduced to her.

But as quickly as the smile came upon his face, it was gone. He knew there was a possibility that he had lost the best thing that ever happened to him. Because he had been unfaithful to the one person that made his life worth living. He had confided into some of the team that he and Avery were just taking some time apart to work through things. The only ones that knew the absolute truth were Adam Burish, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Andrew Ladd, and Niklas Hjalmarsson. The last two were not his choice. He knew Avery had told them every detail of what she saw, what was said and everything that he might not have remembered. She had a knack for remembering the smallest of details.

The only thing that kept him sane with her not around was knowing that there might be a chance for them to repair what happened. Even if they didn't want to believe it, they loved each other very much. Avery was simply Patrick's world. She was everything he ever wanted, so he wasn't sure what happened. He didn't understand why he cheated on the one woman he never wanted to lose. And when she saw them, her jealousy was obvious and she went and slept with John, a co-worker at the restaurant she worked part time at. That was where they had met, she was the waitress for some of the Hawks that went out to dinner after shutting out the San Jose Sharks at the United Center. It had been funny to see Patrick Kane try and flirt his way into getting himself a beer, but she didn't budge. If anything she wanted to smack the smirk off his face. Afterward, when he was the only one left, he apologized for Kaner's consistent flirting. He knew that while talking to her he was flirting, but what surprised him was when she flirted right back.

The next few days were torture. It was the off-season and training hadn't started yet. Patrick remembered when they were talking about making plans for when they he had the time off. Avery said that she could take the time off and maybe they could start thinking about extending their family. That had been his thoughts for the past few days. He had been surprised when Avery had called him to see if they could talk. It was mid-morning, so he was surprised and slightly worried about everything she wanted to tell him. When he asked if there was something wrong, she hadn't said. That was only half an hour ago.

“Patrick?”

He heard Avery's voice as she walked inside their house. He hadn't even heard the door open. She had probably used her key to get in since he hadn't unlocked it since the furniture guys replaced the bed and set up the new one. “Kitchen!” he called to let her know what direction to go to. He continued to cut up the apple he had been slicing.

When Patrick's eyes found his wife, she seemed to be glowing, but he couldn't be sure if there a reason behind it. “Hey, Patrick.”

“Hey, Avery. How are you?”

“How are your-” Avery stopped mid-sentence knowing it would be better if she didn't go there. “I'm sorry for coming over on short notice especially when we have plans for later, but what I have to say, I don't want to say in public.”

“Avery, what's going on?”

“We haven't really been ourselves lately. You cheated on me with that whore, probably more than once. I cheated on you with John, but I don't think we can work anymore. I think it would be best if we weren't together.”

“Avery, you don't mean that.” Patrick said looking into her brown eyes.

“Sometimes it just takes people awhile to figure out that they don't belong together.”

“Avery, I know you very well. I know your bullshitting me right now, so tell me what the hell is going on with you.”

“I'm giving you a chance to walk away,” Avery said wiping the tears from her eyes. “So take it.”

“When hell freezes over. I put that ring on your finger, you put mine on me and that's how it will stay. Now please just fucking tell me what is going on.”

“I'm pregnant.” Avery stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

Patrick's surprised eyes and speechlessness told her what she needed to know. That was the last thing he thought would come out of her mouth. It did explain why she was glowing when she walked into the room. Why she was still glowing. It was hard to swallow. He was going to be a daddy. Sure they had talked about starting a family, but with everything that had gone down, was now really the best time to do so?

Avery could see the wheels in his head turning. “I'm eight maybe nine weeks. The doctor says I'm healthy and everything seems to be just fine.”

“So you want me to walk away knowing your pregnant?”

“I think for now until we know what we want from one another that we should just separate for now.”

“No,” Patrick told her as he stood in front of her. “There is no doubt in my mind that I truly love you and I messed up, big time, I know. And I know you only slept with that douche because of what I did and I don't know how to make it up to you. Tell me, tell me what I need to do to make this up to you, Avery.”

“I don't know anymore.” Avery said barely above a whisper as she felt his arms wrap around her.

“I think we just need to work through this, please. I'm going insane without you.”

“This isn't right,” Avery told him letting the tears fall and putting her head on his shoulder. Her arms dropped from her chest to wrap around him. “We cheated on each other and now we are bringing a child into the world. That isn't the best environment for this kind of thing.”

“Avery, I know I was an idiot in letting my unknown feeling towards her get the best of me. I know that it hurt you and I this is a sign.”

Pulling herself out of his arms, she wiped the tears away from her eyes. “A sign of what? That we aren't ready for this? I'm twenty-four and I cheated on my husband in retaliation because he cheated on me.”

“It's a sign that we shouldn't give up on us. I know you might be ready to throw in the towel and be done with me, with us, but I won't let it happen. Having this baby will bring us closer. Do you think we can move on from this?”

“Patrick, I love you, you know I do, but how can I trust you?”

“Let me earn it back,” he said. “I know you wouldn't have gone near that douche if I hadn't slept with her, but I know I can prove to you that I love you and only you.”

“I need time,” Avery told him. “So please just give me some time.”

“How much time? A day? A week? A month?” Patrick asked, coming closer to her. “I won't let you talk yourself out of this.”

“It has to be my decision Patrick. I'll call you next week.”

Walking away from him, she let some of the tears fall from her eyes. Closing the door behind her, she walked over to her car and got in. She sat in her car and closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She knew she loved Patrick. He had told her about the unresolved issues with his ex, but she never thought that it would come and bite her in the ass. When she realized that if she no longer were to be with Patrick then not only would she lose her husband, but her best friend as well. Her eyes were burning, the tears prickling her eyes. She didn't want to raise a baby by herself, she wanted to do it with Patrick. That's how it should be, them together raising a family. That was how she pictured it when they first started talking about starting a family together.

She wanted to be with him. Avery was in love with Patrick, but could she forgive him for cheating on her? If she was honest, she should since she did the same thing. Hers might have been because he did it first, but when he did it a second time, she couldn't help but wonder if it would be better to give him a second chance and if something happened again then she could at least say she gave it a try. It wasn't just because of the fact that she was pregnant, but it was part of it and the other part was because she was in love with her husband. They were both unfaithful, but maybe they had a chance of overcoming what they had done to one another and to their marriage.

Avery gave him a chance to walk away, but he didn't. And she couldn't just walk away from him.

Getting out of her car, she walked back to the house and walked inside without knocking. Shooter was laying on the floor asleep. Closing the door softly, she made her way back to the kitchen. Patrick was no longer there. She didn't call out his name, so she made her way down the hallway. She smiled at their wedding picture before she walked towards the bedroom. Opening the door, she saw Patrick on the bed, a new frame and bedding. He had his eyes closed but he wasn't asleep. He had his arms over his face. Making her way over to the bed, it sunk down as she climbed on the bed.

Patrick lowered his arms and looked at her in surprise. Crawling over to him, she laid her head on his chest. “I wanna come home, Patrick.”

“That's all the time you needed?”

“I couldn't leave,” Avery admitted. “I stayed in the driveway and just did some thinking.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“You and me. If I left I wouldn't have come back. I just don't want to lose my best friend and my husband all in one bad mistake. I love you Patrick, but I won't stay with you if you do this again.”

“It won't happen again,” Patrick told her. “There's too much risk in being unfaithful. I've learned that the hard way. I've missed you Avery.”

Moving her head, she looked into his eyes and gently kissed his lips. “I've missed you too Patrick.”

“How about we go get your stuff from where ever it was that you were staying at?” he suggested.

“How about we just stay here and you can show me everything that you've missed about me?”

“I think that's a great idea.” Patrick said, moving so he was on top of her.

Leaning down he captured her lips and her arms wrapped around his neck as her hands went into his short hair. Breaking the kiss, he stared into her eyes. “I promise not to be unfaithful, I don't wanna lose my best friend either.”

“I'm glad you didn't take the chance to walk away from us.”