I'll Walk This Road With You

Authors Note: Hey everyone! I'm back again. To all of you that read my first story (Her Silver Lining ) thanks! I appreciate your reviews and positive feedback :) I am now writing a sequel- thanks to a fan of my first story, girl fictioner, thanks for putting the idea of a sequel in my head— I hope you all like it and I have an awesome idea for this story. There is a lot that will happen within this story so PLEASE read and REVIEW! it will give me inspiration to keep going!

Thanks so much

OH and most importantly I do NOT OWN any of the characters!

Chapter 1:

It was one of those perfect days in Upper Darby, PA. The air was cool and crisp and the sun shone brightly. I was smiling to myself as I walked the quiet neighborhood Pat and I had moved into last month. Our house was little but perfect for just the two of us. I remember the day we were trying to find a place to rent.

None of them were right, either to fucking expensive or there was "a catch" with the rental agreements. Pat and I had given up for the day when we took a shortcut through a neighborhood on the way back and I spotted a one-story brick house with a gorgeous tree in the front yard. In reality it wasn't, it was oddly shaped and bent every which way. "That tree is by far the ugliest I've seen." Pat said simply. I ignored him. The very next day we had signed the lease and rented the house with the ugly tree, which we found out from our real estate agent, was a cherry blossom.

So here I stood across the street looking at that tree and our new place right behind and feeling more than happy, I was exuberant. I did miss my dance studio over at my parent's but they were only 40 minutes away including traffic time. Pat's parents were more than gleeful when he'd told them we had at last found a place.

Pat promised me when we had enough money saved up we would buy a place instead of rent and he would also build me a dance studio. Pat had gotten a position as a history teacher in a nearby high school and things were actually becoming normal, as far as normal will ever be for Pat and myself. We will always have our crazy and love each other for it.

I hadn't found many ways to occupy my time yet, now that Pat was gone during the day Monday though Friday I had been busy arranging things in the house and even going back home in the day to practice some new dance choreographies. Veronica would ask me to lunch every other Wednesday and I would go only to prove to her that I'd grown past the "I hate you" stage. I needed to start looking for a job but I sure as hell wasn't going to work somewhere I didn't want to. I'd had enough of the daily bullshit, working with people that would know me as "Tommy's whore".

I wanted more than anything to start teaching dance and hold my own classes, but that required connections and money most people wouldn't want to spend, at least until I was well known and an established instructor. I'd seen an ad for a ballet instructor for girls ranging from ages 6-9. I was going to call the woman tomorrow morning.

The sun was setting in the distance, disappearing over the neighboring houses roofs and splitting into soft colors of orange and red. Pat would be home soon and we'd go for our evening run.

I heard the keys on the counter and the door close. I smiled and peeked out from the bedroom as I reached above my head pulling my long black hair into a ponytail. Pat came around the corner and stood a few feet away. We just stared at each other and it didn't take much for us to smile when we saw each other. "Hi stranger." He said as his smile vanished and he walked over to me. I felt his strong warm hands rest on my hips. "hi." I say kissing him gently.

He began trailing soft kisses up my neck. I got goosebumps and pushed him back against the wall. He grunted and looked at me that way he did when he was a little surprised but all too ready. I kissed him fully on the mouth with powerful force before standing back and licking my lips teasingly. His eyebrow raised and he took a step towards me. I turned on my heels in one swift motion and ran out the door. All he saw was a blur of black shorts and red running shoes.

Pat was always game. He took off his collared shirt and jeans and was in his sweats, black sweatshirt and Nike's within a minute before he ran out the door after her. I had laughed rather hysterically when I'd run 4 blocks and he still hadn't caught up, of course I cheated and took short cuts, weaving in and out of streets. I headed towards the park that was nearby our neighborhood.

I felt his presence before I saw him in my peripheral vision. He was running to my left and then in an instant had past me. We didn't say a word to each other, just kept running. I didn't let it bother me that'd he past me. I'd find a way to catch him. Pat swiped to the left and out onto the streets and I followed. By the time we'd returned home it was dusk and the street lamps were lit. We went inside ate dinner and sat on the couch after Pat made a fire in the fireplace.

The rock station was playing quietly in the background as the fire crackled and I lay in his arms. He was holding a book above me and I watched his eyes move in left to right motions. "So serious…" I say playfully reaching up and touching his jaw with my finger. "So silly…" he says looking down at me a smirk on his face. Before I can retort he bends down and raises me up to him. His lips are warm and his mouth inviting…I am easily carried away. I sit up and turn around wrapping my legs around him; he reaches under my shirt his hands feel like sheets of ice. "Fuck! Why are your hands so damn cold?!" I shout.

"So I can make you squirm." He says as if it were the most obvious answer. I start to laugh as he reaches up further bringing his hands between my shoulder blades…my whole body feels cradled against him. His fingertips move in slow circular motions as he massages my lips with his and once in awhile pulls back just so we can stare into each others eyes…the emotions we both get when we do that is more powerful than any motion or expression of words fathomable.

It's electric when I touch Pat; he's more than I could have ever hoped to have in my life. "I love you." I whisper, bringing my lips to his ear, biting it aggressively. He cringes. And then replies "I know." …I pull back my eyebrow raised giving him my "You better back up and reword that statement" kinda look. He smiles and a laugh escapes. "You know… I do that every time just to see you get your engines fired up." He says still chuckling..

"I don't give a fuck what you might think is a good reason for doing that." I say still a bit annoyed. Before I can pull back he grabs me. "Hey now…I love you." He says his voice lowering when he hits the "you." Godamnit I chide myself, my heart melts every time.

We sit on the couch for another hour, Pat returns to his book and I lay dozing in and out of sleep. "Hey…beautiful." I hear Pat's deep voice in my dreams. I slowly open my eyes. He's just staring at me. I blink. For a moment, I thought he was studying my face. But when I blinked again it only made it clearer that he was studying me.

His hand reached my cheek, slowly trailing his finger down the side. "I've memorized every feature of your face...your eyes, your freckles, all one billion of them." He says a smile breaking out on his face when I shoot him a dirty look. I immediately smile back. "Tiffany, don't forget I have that formal dinner at school tomorrow evening, Mr. Ericson, my boss wants to meet you. I talk about you all the time there so they want to formally be introduced to this Ms. Tiffany Maxwell." He says winking at me.

"I'll be there. What time?" Pat smiles at my response. "It's at six 'o'clock." He says and then he carries me off to the bedroom because I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

Chapter 2: I'm Sorry

The next morning I wake up ready to complete my main mission, to call the woman, Ms. Ivan, from the ad I saw in the paper. "This is Ms. Ivans speaking." Says a warm bright voice. I automatically find myself rolling my eyes. She sounds just like Veronica. "Hi Ms. Ivans, this is Tiffany Maxwell, I was inquiring about the ballet instructor position." At first she seemed hesitant about me when I told her I hadn't actually graduated with any major in drama arts or dancing. But for some reason I though to mention the dance event Pat and I had done and she knew of me!

She had suddenly become less fake and cold and said she'd love to meet me today. I had to admit I was pretty fucking excited. I crossed the street a couple hours later to the little café Bonnie that I'd recommended we meet at. Thankfully she looked nothing like Veronica, she had short blonde hair and was in her late forty's. We talked for about two hours, about dance and our passions and I shared as little as possible about my recent rough patches. Ms. Ivans or Karen invited me to run by the studio that she was the director at.

It was a two story building on the outskirts of town and I loved it. An old fashioned white stone building with fancy stone engravings on the front and chandeliers hanging above the marble floors in the inside entrance room. I followed Karen down a short corridor and into a room with shining wood floors freshly polished. My heart beat faster and I could already see myself in there teaching. Teaching little girls ballet wasn't anywhere near my ideal aspiration but it was a good start and I'd be able to make my name known in the area.

After she gave me a tour of all the other rooms and offices in the building I left with a strong impression I'd gotten the job. She said she wanted to give me a trial week to make sure everything would fit into place, and she was also very interested in seeing some of my own routines I'd been working on. I went home exhausted. It was 4:25. I sighed as I collapsed into the pillows. Just a short nap I said silently to myself.

BANG. My eyes shot open and I wasn't sure if the loud noise was in my dreams or something else. But my stomach dropped to the pit of my stomach when I saw the clock glowing it's evil red numbers…7:50. FUCK was the only thing I could think. Within the next instant Pat came barging into the room. He was livid.

"Where the fuck were you! Huh Tiffany?! Where were you?!" He came right up to my face and I didn't move. He saw how disheveled I looked and the curtains drawn. I honestly wished I had a better reason than having fallen asleep for missing his important dinner with his fellow colleagues. I knew how much it meant to him.

I had screwed up, I really had.

Pat didn't say another word and walked out. I got up and pushed my hair back running out. He was nowhere to be seen. I saw the door slightly ajar. "Pat?" I called out. "PAT SOLITANO!" no response came and I knew what he'd done. Ran away. He'd run away before something stupid was said, before a rage came on. I grabbed my running shoes and slipped them on frantically, I was losing precious seconds to catch up to him.

The sky was dark and overcast and it had become unusually cold. The wind bit at my cheeks and I'd realized I had run out without a jacket on. I didn't care. I ran down the block and eventually came out onto the streets in town. I didn't even notice snowflakes slowly falling from the dark skies. People were watching me run, a girl in a black t-shirt and jeans running as fast as she could with black hair messily flying behind her. …a rare site for a fucking ridiculously cold evening. I would've laughed at some of their expressions if catching up to Pat wasn't the foremost thing on my mind.

I eventually reached the park. I saw his figure up ahead and gained more speed. The walkway had swept down and the embankment was too sharp to run down now. "PAT!" I screamed. He didn't even turn and began running again. I was so furious at him. "GODAMNIT PAT! I'M SORRY OKAY?! " I screamed at the top of my lungs. Several people close by turned at my screaming.

I kept running gaining speed as the hill gradually steeped downward. I saw a shortcut to reach the bottom of the embankment just up ahead, a two flight stone staircase. YES I thought relieved, it would be just enough of a head start to cut him off on the pathway below.

"Hey you! Watch it! Those stairs are slippery!" a woman called out as I reached the top of them at running speed. It was only within the next few seconds that everything blacked out.

Pat's point of view.

I had stopped running, and breathing the second I heard a woman's scream. My heart skipped. I turned and saw a gathering of people just up ahead. I then saw the staircase. NO NO NO I repeated over and over as I ran towards the people. I felt sicker inside than I'd ever felt before in my life. I saw a woman lying twisted on the pavement with long black hair running over her motionless body.

"TIFFANY!" I screamed. "OH DEAR GOD! NO!" I yelled in panic and horror. I was holding her in my arms within the next second while the gathering of people around us remained in a state of panic. I heard the siren of an ambulance in the distance. Tiffany's black hair was entangled in blood. I brought her head up to my cheek and began rolling back and forth on my knees, holding her in my arms.

The rest was a blur, maybe it was the tears blinding me, or the fear I'd just lost the only fucking thing that mattered to me. I heard a man screaming, so loud it was hurting my ears. Make him stop! I kept trying to say but then when it grew faint and I was losing my vision, I realized the man screaming had been me. The paramedics had sedated me.

Dear Go..dea…god…pl—please don..don't tak—ake her… I whispered before I went into utter darkness.