A/N: Please read up to chapter 11 of The Tale of Jeremy Fitzgerald first bc this is kinda spoilers- story/story_edit_ ?storyid=11591604

Payton frantically parked the car in the parking lot behind his apartment building and threw himself out without even thinking of locking it or gathering all his belongings. Those wrathful eyes Payton was due to get were already glaring into his souls, making Payton even more nervous. He hadn't meant to be out that late, but he couldn't say no to Fransisco. Despite avoiding punishment, he knew that facing Erika would be a worse fate than getting roughed up in an alleyway.

He flew up the stairs and barged into his apartment, panting for breath when bursting through the doorway. It was evident he had been missed. The kitchen light and the living room lamps were turned on, giving the room a soft glow amongst the dark sky outside. Payton's breathing was the only sound in the room.

However, Erika was not sleeping on the couch which watching TV, or making herself a cup of coffee to keep awake. Instead, she was leaning on the kitchen table with her arms folded. She was not wearing pyjamas, but a full skinny jeans and tank top outfit- what she had been wearing earlier in the day. The look on her face was anything but pleasant or worried.

"E-Erika…" Payton muttered, shutting the door behind him meekly. He couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse this time.

"Just cut the shit and tell me who she is," Erika barked.

This made Payton freeze from this frantic movements and backtrack his thoughts. "W-What?"

"You don't need to lie anymore. You got no excuses to pull out of your ass left. Is it that Cheyenne girl from your work with the big tits? I bet she's soooo sexy in bed."

Payton had to take a moment to process the barrage of accusations his wife was throwing at him. "L-Look," he stammered, "It's n-not what it looks like. C-C-Cheyenne is w-way too young for me. A-And besides… s-s-she's gay."

Erika rolled her eyes and stood up intimidatingly. "You expect me to believe that crap?" she scoffed, "You're the worst liar; I feel stupid for actually believing you all those times before!"

'I'm a liar because I love you,' Payton thought. His shaky hands and the pit in his stomach probably didn't help his already improbable lie.

"I… J-Just let me explain!" he pleaded. Before he could say anything else, his eyes wandered to the duffle bag sitting on the kitchen counter. His expression dropped. "You're… l-leaving me?"

"I figured I may as well give you a few days alone to think of how much you love me," Erika replied, "Few days of freedom to think of a better lie, divorce me, sleep with some whores- why should I care?"

"I don't wanna divorce or cheat on you. It's not like that!"

"Then tell me about your work. Wonder why I never hear about it."

The heart drumming in Payton's ears was getting faster. "I-I've told you, I-I'm just a security guard," he said.

Erika put her hands on her hips and chuckled sarcastically. "Damn, for 'just a security guard' you seem to do a lot of overtime. What do you do in this 'overtime' anyways, hmmm?"

"I-I can't tell you!" Payton retorted.

"Then tell me why you were late."

"Can't say that either!" Payton's fingers raked through his greasy hair and he gritted his teeth in frustration.

Suddenly Erika slammed her fist on the kitchen table, her true rage finally breaking through. "You think this is a fucking joke, Payton?!" she barked, "You said you were only gonna do a couple of hours to fill in for a sick co-worker. Said you were gonna be home at five- it's 10:30!" Tears were beginning to weld in her soft brown eyes and small wheezes became audible in her voice. "While you were fucking around, I was home alone hoping and hoping you were gonna be home soon. We were gonna go out to dinner and actually have sex for once. Does that mean nothing to you? Do I mean nothing to you?"

Erika had to take a moment to shield her face in her hand as she wheezed out her cries. Even as she was having an emotional breakdown, Payton still saw her to be as beautiful and sweet as ever. He couldn't blame her for her drastic changing of different emotions.

"Sorry…" he muttered, reaching out to Erika in an attempt to embrace her in an attempt to comfort her. Maybe this would be the day he could save his corrupted marriage. All they had to do was talk. However, those thoughts vanished when Erika slapped his outstretched hand away after he took only a few steps forward.

"I think… we need some time apart," Erika murmured in a softer tone than before. She picked her duffle bag up from the polished table and slung it over her shoulder. As she began walking towards the door, Payton grabbed her arm, causing her to look back. Her eyes were red and full of all the sorrow she accumulated from all those nights alone.

"Erika p-please," Payton begged, "I d-don't wanna lose you."

All Erika could do to express herself was shake her head sadly. "To think… we were so close to having a child," she lamented, "I even looked for cheap baby furniture and houses in the suburbs… I was living in a fool's paradise."

Payton couldn't let her go just yet. He tightened his grip on her arm. "A-And I wanna be a parent with you. More than anything. Please... I j-just wanna talk first."

"N-No! Let go of me and maybe I'll call you from the motel."

'Why are you leaving?' Payton thought.

"Erika-"

"I said let go!" Erika hissed, trying to yank her feeble arm away.

'Shut up, shut up, shut up!' Payton practically screamed in his head.

The iceberg in Payton's mind had tipped. One moment Erika was trying to break free of Payton's threateningly tight grip, and the next moment Payton found himself pinning his wife to the wall while her duffle bag laid on the floor.

"Pay-" the petite woman's shriek of protest was cut off by Payton clamping her mouth shut while the other hand held her arms tight. Erika was clearly beginning to freak out, but Payton ignored her struggles. It wasn't even evident to Payton himself why he chose to get drastic so quickly; it was the only method he thought of at the moment to shut her up and not attract attention of neighbors.

"You wanna know why I was late, and why I'm always late?" he hissed, ignoring Erika's muffled screams, "I had to go deliver weapons to a weed company, and then cover up my boss's ass while a dude got beat nearly to death just outside the building. I've been helping my boss murder because I want to protect you! I love you too much to lose you!"

Erika's eyes widened in both disbelief and horror as she struggled even harder. 'Even when I'm honest, it's not fucking good enough,' Payton thought.

All Payton could think about was how angry he was. Why did Erika have to try to abandon him? Why didn't she love him anymore? Why, why, why? He did everything he could to protect her. He constantly threw himself in danger within the world of crime to keep her smiling another day. Why couldn't she calm down to understand that after learning the truth she wanted?

Payton dropped Erika to the floor as she began violently coughing and wheezing, holding her stomach as she writhed on the floor. "See what you did Erika? You couldn't appreciate that I tried everything I could to put bread on the table! I wanted you to live and see your smile every day, and you can't understand that. I told you the truth, and you still got upset. Why don't you understand that?"

Payton momentarily paced as his mind ignored Erika's violent hacks and her reaching up with a limp hand. "G-Get…in... haler… m-my bag," she croaked before being interrupted by more coughing and gasping for air. Her coughs and wheezes were loud for about another minute or two, which Payton's ears had filtered out. His mind was oblivious to the world around him, like static on a television.

Then it was quiet. The AC was quietly whirring as best as it could to beat the sticky summer heat. Only a few cars were travelling down the road outside the window, mostly made up of people getting home to loved ones or just the sanctuary of their private home. It was if time itself had stopped in Apartment 409 as the world around it was springing with vibrant life.

Payton had finally halted his pacing after a minute of the sudden silence, then looked down at Erika's motionless body. The lump in his throat made him gulp as he knelt down to turn her over. "Erika… did I scare you?" He asked in a whisper.

There was no response from the woman.

"E-Erika… s-stop it. You're s-scaring me now."

Payton flipped over Erika to get a better look at her face. Her lips were as soft as ever, yet now they were unmoving and easily showed every crack and curve in those lips, the ones Payton had kissed so many times.

And Payton kissed those lips again. Again and again, breathing into her delicate mouth that was usually smiling in hopes she'd smile once more. He pumped her chest and kissed her as he had began to finally realize what he had done. It wasn't until nearly ten minutes later when he had finally given up try kiss her to breathe again, and had laid his head down on her chest in mourning.

"Erika…" the woeful man whispered, feeling tears run down his face and onto her silky tank top in tiny puddles. He wished he could've taken the beating this one night.

Payton was silent when stealthily taking Erika's body out of the apartment building and throwing her into the back seat of the car, along with her duffle bag and a few other items from home. Her face that had been ridden with loneliness and guilt for so long was finally at peace. She looked as young and as innocent as she had been when Payton first met her on that blind date five years ago. At least now she was finally getting the attention from Payton she had craved for so long.

Payton was silent as he drove out of town without the radio playing as Erika laid in the back seat. One of their most memorable dates was going out to camp in the woods and gaze at the stars as they spilled their hearts out to one another. Payton remembered them climbing into Erika's car and singing along with the radio. Erika had been smiling as bright as the car headlights as she sang.

Payton was silent when he approached the docks in the outskirts of town as he made sure no one was in sight. It was late, and the water in this area was fairly deep, so he had little chance of being caught (at least, he hoped so).

He parked the car out and opened back seat door, unloading the garbage bag and several weights out before pulling Erika out. While he was packing up Erika, two dumbbells from home, and dumping the contents of her duffle bag into the garbage bag, his mind was fuzzy. It felt as if this was all a crazy dream. If it was, Payton wished he would wake up soon. He pushed the rest of his emotions to the back of his mind as he watched the bag of his wife be submerged into the ocean and he muttered his good-byes.

"Lord have mercy on her soul," Payton prayed under his breath.

The ride back into town wasn't any better than the ride going out. Payton was visibly shaking as he clutched the steering wheeling and trying to ignore the life he left behind. He wondered if he and Erika would've had a baby boy or girl. Would they have ended up moving to the suburbs after all? Would they let their child sleep in their bed when they had nightmares? Would Payton wave to neighbors who passed by in their cars as he mowed the lawn? Would they attend open house, school plays, and PTA meetings like a normal family? These thoughts were ruthlessly stabbing at Payton's heart and mind like daggers of regret.

As he began to approach near his destination, he found himself beginning to laugh. Nothing was funny about his current situation, yet he was chuckling and then laughing like a mental patient. His hysteria continued as drove down the street, and continued as he parked his car in the alleyway behind Freddy's. He truly was a madman like his peers.

He quietly pushed open the back door to the building and his laughing subsided. The hall lights were dim, and the faint sound of voices could be heard; Fransisco hadn't left the building yet. He could hear Fransisco clearly from the hall, and Payton followed the voice to Fransisco's office.

Fransisco was of course at his desk, and Ben was sitting in a chair in front of him, in a much more relaxed position than his appearance would suggest. They both immediately stopped mid-conversation as the door creaked open and Payton showed his white face in.

Fransisco gave him a funny look. "Thought you were at home fucking your wife," he said. Payton winced at that statement.

"Look like you've seen a ghost," Ben added.

"I, uh…" was all that Payton could spit out.

"Speak up! Can't you see we're busy?" Fransisco barked.

Payton swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped fully into the room. "I… I'd like to ask you a favor… F-Fransisco," he muttered.

The mob boss raised his eyebrows, a bit taken back by the statement. Payton was never so straightforward.

"Ben, have a good night," Fransisco nodded to his colleague after a moment of thought.

Ben gave an exasperated sigh but got up anyways. He stared directly into Payton's eyes with his usual no-teeth smile. There was no doubt he'd try to listen in from outside the door. The shutting of the door echoed through the halls and Payton was now standing motionless in front of the solution to his dilemma.

"Sit," Fransisco ordered. Payton did as he was told. He had definitely gotten Fransisco's attention by then, judging by the interest in his eyes. "What kind of favor do you want?