Locked Hearts – Chapter Two

A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Another short chapter, but the next one will be longer.

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Patrick relaxed into the cushions once again, relieved that his mother was finally gone and they could pick up the pieces now that the storm front passed. Abby waltzed downstairs and into the living room, a joyous smile spread over her face.

"Hey Patrick!" Her singsong voice wafted sweetly across the room and brought Patrick back from his worries about Bonnie.

"Hey, Abby. What are you up to this late at night?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to see if you needed anything."

Abby sat down next to Patrick on the couch and made herself comfortable.

"Oh, um, no, I don't think I need anything right now. But you're welcome to stay and talk, if that's what you really came down here for," Patrick said, powering through Abby's protective barrier and digging into her true intentions.

"I hate how you know me so well after only meeting me a couple months ago."

Abby smiled, lighting up her beautiful brown eyes. Patrick laughs, ignoring the pain in his smooth chest.

"So, what is it you want to talk about?" Patrick asked inquisitively.

"I just wanted to…" Abby averted her gaze to her hands resting on her designer blue jeans. Patrick leaned forward, prodding her to continue. "Why did you try to leave?"

Patrick saw the hurt in her eyes and immediately felt a pang of regret for packing his things and trotting off without so much as a notice as to where he was going.

"I'm really sorry about that, if I hurt you. I'm just not used to staying in one place for that long. But I promise you, I won't leave again."

Abby looked straight into his sincere eyes and knew he truly meant it.

"Cross your heart?"

"Cross my heart," Patrick said, grinning. "Looks like you're stuck with me now."

Abby giggled, relieved. They sat in silence for a few moments, Abby trying to fight the temptation to ask her next question. After a few minutes of wrestling with her mind, she caved.

"So… How do you feel about my mom?"

"What do you mean? Do I have feelings for Jennifer?" Patrick asked nervously. He was stepping on thin ice and he knew it.

"Well, yeah. I mean, you two have been spending so much time together lately and you seem so close now. There must be something there."

Patrick considered this question, reevaluating his emotions towards the one person whom honestly believed in the good in him. Not even Bonnie cared whether or not he was a good person; all she was after was Jennifer's money.

"Plus you helped to get her bonds back, and you saved my little baby brother or sister twice," Abby continued, trying to persuade him to realize his true feelings.

Jennifer crept down the stairs, stopping at the doorway to the living room when she overheard Abby and Patrick engaged in a deep conversation. Her attention was enticingly grabbed when she heard her name being spoken.

"You've got a good point there," Patrick said, flustered. He remembered the rush of emotions both times he sat at Jennifer's hospital bed during the baby emergencies. Did he feel a strong connection between the two of them? Absolutely. But would he admit it?

"I don't know what to think right now, actually. I feel that we have formed a bond after everything that happened, but I'm not sure about raw feelings."

Abby was slightly pleased with that answer.

"Okay, so how about in the future? Can you see yourself with her then?"

Abby was on the edge of her softly cushioned seat in anticipation.

"Yeah," he laughed. "I do."

Abby squealed in excitement.

Jennifer was taken aback. Patrick was thinking about the future!

"This is so great!" Abby raised her voice, practically bouncing off the couch in her excitement.

"Please don't mention this to your mom. I just-."

"No problem," Abby cut him off.

"Thank God," Patrick sighed, falling back against the blanket that was tossed over the back of the couch. "I just don't want her to get her hopes up and then find out that I'm not ready for a relationship."

"Yet?" Abby asked, hopeful for the possible fate of her mother and her new best friend.

"Yet," Patrick added to Jennifer's delight. "Hey, isn't it past your bedtime?"

Abby moaned as Patrick grinned wryly.

"I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up," she said scornfully, wanting to remain in the living room and pry more information out of him.

"You had better get off to bed before Jennifer finds you down here," Patrick said coolly, taking the role of the responsible adult.

Abby groaned again, "All right. But we are not finished!"

"Finished with what?" Jennifer asked, walking into the room.

"Uh," Patrick stuttered, glancing hopefully at Abby for a convincing response, unaware that Jennifer had already overheard the entire conversation.

"Oh, Patrick was just helping me with some ideas for a paper I have to write for English class," Abby said with pride, obviously having had some practice.

"Right," Patrick agreed. "Let me know if you need any more help with that."

"Will do," Abby said, turning towards the stairs. "I guess I had better get to bed."

"That would be best," Jennifer said, shooing her in that direction. "Night, Abby."

"G'night mom. You too, Patrick," she said, sending a sly wink spiraling in his direction.

Jennifer watched in silence as Abby made her way up the stairs. Once out of earshot, Jennifer turned to Patrick, a grin spread from ear to ear.

"You two must have had a bonding moment tonight. Was that wink supposed to imply something?"

Patrick squirmed in his seat, looking at his white socks for some sort of response that wouldn't give his true intentions away. "Uh… Okay, you caught us," he said, looking her directly in the eye. "We were planning on picking out a gift for you and the baby and tomorrow we were going to come up with some ideas. Just don't let Abby know I blew our secret."

Jennifer laughed with no need to see through his insignificant lie. She would have done the same thing in his shoes. She walked over to the couch and took her seat next to him as he scooted over in order to make sufficient room for her to be comfortable.

"You really don't need to get me anything. After everything you've done for me and the baby, I should be the one repaying you."

Patrick's face contorted into a smile again, admiring Jennifer's good-hearted gesture. "You have given me a place to stay and I can raid the refrigerator as often as I want. Seriously, that's all I can ask for. You've been so generous to me and you hardly know me!"

"It's… I just feel like I owe you for getting back my grandmother's bonds, especially since it caused you so much trouble," Jennifer said, pure sincerity ringing from every word she spoke.

"It was no trouble, really. If I could have the chance to do it any differently, believe me, I wouldn't change a thing. As long as you're safe, that's all that matters," Patrick spoke from the heart, probably one of the most pure sentiments he had confided to someone in years.

Jennifer was about to retaliate with another comment when the phone pierced the atmosphere in the living room. Rising to answer it, Jennifer swept her way to the table and swiftly grabbed the phone on the fourth ring.

"Hello?"

"Jennifer? It's Julie."

Jennifer turned her head over her shoulder and stole a glance at Patrick, who seemed ready to doze off to dreamland at any given moment.

"Julie, is something wrong?"

"No, everything is just fine here. I'm calling about Bonnie Lockhart," Julie spat Bonnie's name with contempt.

"What about Bonnie?" Jennifer asked, sensing that Julie was up to something again.

"Mickey said he might stop by tonight, so I thought I would call and check up. You know, just to make sure that money hungry queen of cleavage didn't cause any trouble."

"I can assure you Bonnie didn't do anything wrong. Why don't you cool off, you've been ripping into her every chance you get," Jennifer stated, remembering the past quarrels her cousin and her housekeeper had gotten themselves into.

"Somebody needs to keep an eye on that woman to make sure she doesn't try to rip Uncle Mickey off. And I bet her son is no better!"

"Julie! Patrick would never do anything to hurt me! He was the one who got my bonds back, remember?" Jennifer spat defensively, grabbing a nearly asleep Patrick's attention.

"It shouldn't have been too hard either. All he had to do was go wherever he stashed them and hand them back to you."

"Why don't you lay off of him? He hasn't done a single thing wrong since the day he got here! In fact it's just the opposite. If I didn't have Patrick in my life, I would have lost my baby or worse," Jennifer said emotionally. "So until you get your facts straight, don't say a word about him to me ever again." With that she hung up the phone, leaving a shocked Julie hanging on the other end.

Patrick lay back on the couch, trying to do it as quietly as possible and closed his eyes. Jennifer sat the phone back in its cradle, running a hand through her long blonde locks. Twisting around, she laid eyes on a motionless Patrick. Thinking he was asleep, she pulled out the blanket that was strewn across the back of the couch and gently placed it on top of his bare chest, covering the cuts and bruises he received as a result of protecting her.

Standing back and admiring his still form, she sighed to herself. She hadn't felt this way since Jack. Only that feeling she shared with Jack was multiplied by ten when she was around Patrick.

Taking a few last seconds for this picture perfect scene to fully sink into her memory, she went to the doorway and clicked off the lights, leaving Patrick to an undisturbed slumber.