Authors Note: I DO not own any of the characters or storyline…as much as I'd like too!

Her Silver Lining

It was one of those moments…the same sickening pain and hurt that had washed over me the day I'd found out about Tommy. It was on a level of hurt I didn't understand myself, my mind was telling me differently from my heart, I had believed Pat wouldn't go running back to Nikki. After all this time spent together and the dance, what had taken so long to build, a friendship, with Pat Solitano…and yet now here I stood watching what I had so longingly anticipated for, walk away from me in only a matter of seconds.

That faint glimmer of hope I had been holding onto vanished. I grabbed him in a hug of joy and exhilaration from winning the score we were all dreading we wouldn't get. Pat responded only briefly before breaking that barrier between us. He hadn't given one glance back. I felt every part of my being tearing apart. I should've known, but I hadn't listened to my better judgment. Fuck…who listens to their better judgment when they're in love?

The funny thing…the downright fucking hilarious thing is I kept standing there watching…watching Pat walk over to that empty hole he was so in love with, yet, who never gave a damn about him. I felt my insides twist when she smiled and he smiled back. I couldn't look away. I was trapped. I knew everyone else was watching right along with me. I knew none of them liked what they were seeing…which made it worse. I didn't want any one of them feeling sorry for me. Poor, poor Tiffany… I felt the sting in my eyes.

I wasn't going to be that woman that was felt sorry for and I sure as hell wasn't going to stay around and pretend to be happy for Pat when he would come walking back to formally introduce me to his wife, his only love. I saw Pat bend down next to her ear…for a horrifying second I thought they were going to kiss and my heart stopped. But watching him whisper into her ear was even worse…prolonged and agonizing. I didn't even remember turning and snatching my coat from my heartless robotic sister and in turn running from the ballroom. I ran so fast down the stairs I was shocked I didn't kill myself in the process.

The rush of cold night air woke me up from the nauseating reverie I was in. Fuck! FUCK I wish It was a dream! I yelled inside. I thought about what I had told Pat before we walked out on the dance floor… "You know, for a while, I thought you were the best thing that ever happened to me. But now I'm starting to think you're the worst"…I had regretted saying those words when we had finished the dance. When I looked into his eyes and felt the connection we held, the pain we had both been through and shared silently, the laughter, the likeness in moods and temperament.

All that didn't fucking matter now I thought. Now I was ecstatic for having said them because they were true. I was sorry; sorry that I'd ever thought he could be my best when he was my worst. The tears were still burning at my eyes but I refused to let them fall. No, not now...not now.

I was walking with no destination, just walking straight and hoping it got me far, far away from this place that I was in. I almost didn't hear the voice calling to me from a distance. " HEY!" a man's voice called out. I knew that voice. I started running, I didn't look back. I was running and out of breath, the cold air was sucking my warmth and energy. I was being drained and there was no fighting it. I reached the corner and my pace slowed. The avenue was dead and the trees all lit up on either sides of the street. The snow fell softly and silently. I brushed the strands of hair back that had fallen from the once formally set ponytail of curls.

I could hear him…his breathing. I knew he was close behind and yet my feet wouldn't carry me another step. I felt his hand reach out and grab me. I resisted and all my anger and pain released. "Would you just leave alone?! PLEASE!" I scream and a few hot tears escape. "Wait a second!" he shouts back as I try to resist his grip. "I have one more letter for you to read, okay?" he said firmly. He handed me a letter. "What the fuck is the matter with you?! Give it to her yourself!" I shout hoarsely. I couldn't believe he was fucking asking me to give that bitch another letter after he was just in there whispering sweet nothings. Pat quickly spoke before I could get another word in. "Let me say something, you don't ever have to see me again if you just read it…alright?"

"This is so fucked up!" I say as I rip open the envelope. "Yeah...just read it." He says in a prevailing way. After I read the first two letters I stop… "Dear Tiffany," it began. I felt my heart stop just like it had when he'd bent down towards Nikki. The letter was for me. I kept reading but after I'd read the next 6 words of "I know you wrote the letter." Pat's voice coveted my own and I stopped so he could say what he had written.

"The only way you could beat my crazy was by doing something crazy yourself. Thank you. I love you. I knew it the minute I met you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to catch up. I just got stuck, Pat" he said in the most truthful and genuine honesty that I felt my insides go numb.

His blue eyes stared back and I no longer hid the tears that had been screaming to release. I had fallen in love with Pat Solitano somewhere along the road and now that we'd reached the end I found out it would just be the beginning. I looked up at him.

"I wrote that a week ago." He said after he saw my tears. "You wrote that a week ago?!" My voice had found itself again. I was shocked. "You let me lie to you for a week?!" I said in disbelief. "I was trying to be romantic." Pat said and shrugged with a small smile growing on his lips. Another pause ensued between us. Everything had come out. It was too good to be true.

"You love me?" I asked incredulously. "Yeah, I do." He says simply and he smiles at me warmly, I know without a doubt he meant every word. Pat would always be the brutally honest; there would never be bullshit. I had been the one reading the signs wrong; I had been lost in my funk for several weeks. So fucking stupid.

"Come here" I said in a whisper as I grabbed him pulling his lips to meet mine. His powerful arms wrapped around me pulling me towards him in a hunger we'd both been eager to fill. I collapsed against him and I didn't remember much more except his warmth and the heat of his mouth as mine was entwined with his. I was safe. I loved him like mad and I was his. His love was for me. Not Nikki. No more Nikki.

I never asked him what he'd whispered in Nikki's ear that night. It didn't matter. Sunday's were Pat's favorite day again, and I was the reason why.

The End.

"Dear Tiffany,

I know you wrote the letter. The only way you could beat my crazy was by doing something crazy yourself. Thank you. I love you. I knew it the minute I met you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to catch up. I just got stuck."

-Pat