Last Year's Wishes Are This Year's Apologies

Patrick stuffed his hands deep into his pockets.

The frigid wind blew hard against his face.

It was only six degrees outside, but this was nothing unusual for Chicago in January.

He was paying an incredible amount for this lawyer, so he wasn't exactly sure why the parking garage was so blasted far from his office.

He let out a deep sigh.

This was not how he pictured his life.

He was twenty-eight and preparing to end his first marriage, the only marriage he had ever believed he would enter. He loved this girl, hell, he was crazy about her. He had been since the very second he laid eyes on her, he would never forget the day he met her.

She was Pete's date.
Her name was Danielle, but she preferred Dani and she was a stylist. She had dressed Pete for the Infinity on High release party. She was beautiful she had porcelain skin with the biggest blue eyes he had ever seen, her hair was a beautiful sandy color, one that she couldn't have achieved through a bottle and her lips were pink and plump, but she wasn't really Pete's type. She was incredibly intelligent and her smile lit up a room.

Pete had known Patrick for years, and when he saw that look in Patrick's eyes, he knew.
Pete made some sad excuse to dump Dani on Patrick while he went to mingle.
And when they knew they would be going on tour the boys hired Dani as their stylist.
They honestly had no use for one, but that didn't matter.
Patrick would take any excuse to spend more time with her.

Patrick and Dani married on February 14th, 2009.
A Valentine's Day wedding was cliché to say the very least, but it fit.
Dani and Patrick were incredibly quirky.

Patrick stopped, looking at the copper plaque fixed to the building; it read 'Meyer, Firth and Christian Law Firm'. He let out a deep breath, reaching for the handle, but he stopped, glancing down at the silver wedding band still gracing his finger. He hadn't been able to bring himself to take it off, because he couldn't bring himself to believe his marriage was over.

He pushed on the revolving door walking through the glass circle before walking out the other side and into the building.

He ignored the receptionist as he shuffled to the elevator. Pushing the 'up' button he heard a ding, and stepped through the steel doors before he could quickly press the close button, ensuring he wouldn't have to share his ride with anyone else. He pushed the '7' and he felt the elevator slowly begin to lift.

Had you asked him this time last year he would have never pictured being here.
This time last year he and Dani were expecting their first baby, a little boy whom they decided they would call Tate. It was exactly what they had wished for. But when Patrick left for tour there was an accident, Dani had fallen down a flight of stairs and at seventeen weeks, their baby died.

His heart still hurt thinking about it.

But he had made the biggest mistake of his life. He hadn't returned home to be with Dani, but rather he stayed on tour. He needed to keep himself busy.

They had tried to work through their issues.
They really did.
They had even decided to try for another baby, but after six months Dani didn't want to try anymore.

She was done.
With trying, and their marriage.

Patrick knew it was his fault. He should have tried harder. But he couldn't face Dani, especially after knowing he had let her down.

The elevator 'dinged' and the doors slid open.

Patrick stepped out, his feet pitting across the carpeted floor until he saw the door he was looking for. Turning the handle he pushed the door open, instantly the woman took notice of Patrick.

"Good morning, Mr. Stump," she offered a pity filled smile, "Mr. Firth is ready to see you," Patrick just nodded, watching the woman stand before she lead him back to a conference room. She held the door letting Patrick walk in, Patrick spotted his lawyer sitting on the opposite side of the table, a myriad of papers laying in front of him. He looked up from the document he was reading, slipping his glasses off he laid them on the table.

"Patrick," he mumbled.

"Gary..." Patrick spoke, sullen. He took a seat in the leather chair next to Gary.

"So we've had a change of agenda..." Gary spoke simply before flipping through another stack of papers. Patrick arched a brow, turning to the man, he looked completely dumbfounded. But Patrick suddenly noticed there were two more places sat just across the table.

"What? What are you talking about?" the man looked up at Patrick, shrugging.

"I don't even know," the older man spoke honestly, "I received a call from Danielle's lawyer this morning, he said some of the terms had changed. From what John said, it may delay the proceedings, so you may not be able to sign any papers today..."

Terms? What terms? Granted they didn't have a pre-nup, Dani didn't want money from Patrick quite frankly she hadn't asked him for a dime. Not that Patrick minded though, he wasn't ready to sign the papers and maybe Dani wasn't either.

"Mr. Firth?" the receptionist asked poking her head into the conference room, "I just received word Mr. Craig and Danielle are on their way up." Patrick swallowed hard as his stomach began to ache. This would be the first time Patrick had seen Dani in over four months, she had been spending most of her time in Los Angeles.

"Thank you," Gary mumbled as she left the room, "let me do the negotiating." Gary spoke confidently to Patrick, "We don't want to draw this out any longer than we possibly have to."

But before he knew it the door pulled open.
And Patrick could have sworn his heart stopped.

Dani walked in, her lawyer following closely behind.
She was in dark skinny jeans and almond colored riding boots that came up to her knees, her Burberry purse resting in the crook of her arm. She had on a short trench coat, underneath he could see a coral and white striped sweater, and she had a beanie of the same color on, her large curls spilling out as the cascaded around her rosy face.

She had yet to make eye contact with him.

She reached for the buttons on her coat, undoing them one by one. As she finally finished she pulled the coat open, and Patrick's eyes went wide. Dani paid no attention as she shimmied the coat off behind her, but her lawyer grabbed the coat, hanging it from the back of her chair.

"You're pregnant..." Patrick mustered up a whisper, his hand finding its way over is mouth as the tears formed in his eyes.

Dani finally looked up, hurt filled her vivid blue eyes. She gently laid her hands on her round stomach, she was still incredibly small but you could tell she was pregnant. Among all the chaos that was slowly unfolding, Patrick notice something, Dani still had her rings on.

"As you can see," Dani's lawyer spoke, laying a manila folder on the table, flipping it open, "our terms have changed drastically."

"You brought us here under false pretenses!" Gary hissed, but Dani shook her head doing her damnedest not to cry.

"Can you give us a moment alone," Dani more demanded than asked, "please?" she begged, her head shooting between the lawyers.

"Sure Dani," John said softly as he stood up, straightening his suit jacket.

"Patrick?" Gary asked, but Patrick held up a hand.

"Give us some time." Patrick spoke, never daring to take his eyes off Dani.

The two men paced out of the room, finally shutting the door behind them.

Patrick just stared at Dani, who was fidgeting with her rings, "when..." he stumbled, Dani looked up at him, her blue eyes boring into him, "when were you going to tell me? I mean, it is mine...right?" he asked, his words rough and unsure.

"Of course it is Patrick." she spoke, finally reaching up to wipe at the tears, "I didn't expect to make it this far. I figured I would screw something up again."

His heart ached. She blamed herself?

"You think it was your fault?" he asked, but Dani's eyes welled with tears.

"Yeah," she mumbled, rubbing at her stomach, "and you did too, why else wouldn't you have come home?" Patrick closed his eyes, letting out a deep breath. He stood up, walking around to the other side of the table, taking a seat in the chair next to her. Her eyes were closed as the tears streamed down her face. Patrick reached up, wiping away at the tears his callused thumbs stroking gently.

"I never blamed you..." Patrick almost whispered, holding Dani's face lovingly. She opened her eyes, biting at her bottom lip.

"then why didn't you come home?" she cried.

"Because I blamed myself..." he spoke.

"We really screwed this one up...didn't we?" Dani asked softly, Patrick didn't respond, but rather he reached up running his hand over Dani's belly. He just shook his head.

"Its not too late to fix it..." he spoke, looking up at her.

"You think so?" she sniffed, grabbing at one of Patrick's hand, lacing their fingers.

"I don't know about you," Patrick started, offering a hopeful smile, "but I have the rest of my life, and it’s all yours if you want it..." Dani let out a small laugh, "God I hope you want it..." he mumbled, leaning his forehead against hers.

She could only manage a nod.

"More than anything Pat..."