Independence Day

Loving someone looks like the 4th of July: fire and burning chaos for a brief, beautiful moment, then smoke in the aftermath that swallows you whole.

July 4th, 2018

Patricia grumbled and slumped out of bed as the maids entered the room. She silently cursed herself for not putting that 'do not disturb' sign on the door before going to bed the night before. Grabbing some of Piper's clothes, she quickly changed in the bathroom before giving the maids a small smile and exiting the room. She hated to admit it, but ever since her fight with Eddie three days ago, she'd been trying to be nicer to people. She couldn't help but think about what he said, how 'everyone in their damn building is scared of her.' Sure, her outfit choices were daring, and she was brutally honest, but she didn't mean to come off that intimidating. Honestly, she didn't think anyone cared her actions.

So she was trying, trying to not scare people off as she wandered through the hotel's halls, making her way to what she hoped was the gym. That's where Piper had been hanging out over the past couple of days. Whatever happened between her and Ben, which she still didn't want to talk about, had her really upset, and she was taking it out on exercise.

Patricia spotted her in the corner, tapping her foot to the upbeat music coming from her headphones and gulping down water. Her stomach wasn't showing yet, being pregnant for only a little over a month, but her appetite and thirst had already skyrocketed.

"Up for some breakfast?" Patricia asked, removing one of her headphones and startling Piper from her daze.

"Yeah sure," she said, a little uncertain.

"Uh, is everything okay?" Patricia questioned as they made their way to the hotel's breakfast bar.

"Yeah, yeah, I've just been... thinking."

"About?"

Piper hesitated for a moment, before muttering, "Nothing."

Patricia scoffed. Thinking about nothing? Yeah, right. But she decided to let that go, Piper obviously wasn't going to tell her anything anytime soon.

Eddie shifted uncomfortably on the chair in the living room, squinting as the sun shined brightly through the windows. He grumbled, giving up on sleeping comfortably and remembering the situation at hand. His mood sunk even more when Ben's annoying snore echoed through the room, as he slept there on the couch.

Three days ago, after Patricia had stormed out, Eddie had decided to go after her, and made his way to the hotel in which Piper and Ben were staying, knowing she would go there. However, on his way, he saw Ben, sitting on a bench outside, head in his hands. He had explained how Piper and he had fought, and how Patricia was indeed at the hotel, but he suggested Eddie give her some space until she cooled off. Apparently she had looked really upset.

That's how Eddie ended up letting Ben stay with him, on the sofa bed like originally planned. The only problem was, they had broken it while trying to pull the bed part out, leaving Ben to just the couch.

And Eddie tried to sleep in his own bed, he really did, but it just didn't feel right.

She wasn't there with him.

He kept waking up in the middle of the night, smelling the scent of her shampoo mixed with her perfume that lingered on the sheets, expecting to be able to turn over and wrap her in his arms, but it wasn't possible. Usually, he could sleep without her, if she was going out of town without him or something. The difference now though, was that he didn't know when she would be back, if she would be back. He didn't like to think about that possibility, but unfortunately... it was one.

"Patricia on your mind?" Ben asked, startling Eddie a tad.

He sighed, "Yeah..."

Ben turned over from his side to face the ceiling. "It sucks doesn't it."

Eddie nodded, not really knowing what to say. They hadn't really discussed the situation at hand much after he found Ben on the bench. The two had been trying to distract one another from the fact that neither Piper nor Patricia would answer their calls.

"What exactly happened between you and Piper?" Eddie finally asked, dying to know.

Ben sighed. "I said some things I shouldn't have... the details aren't important, and now... I can't take it back."

Eddie half-smiled in understanding, "Maybe we're more like brothers than I thought."

Ben chuckled lightly, but then silence surrounded the two once more. They were both still contemplating how to fix things. The one option that had crossed their minds before, was to just go over there. Eddie didn't exactly think Patricia would appreciate that though, and since Ben didn't go, he assumed he felt the same.

"I bet they'll be at the fireworks tonight..." Ben suggested, reminding Eddie of what their plans had been.

Patricia and Piper's childhood friend had wound up moving to New York as well (small world isn't it?), and arranged a sort of tailgating up on a hill where the fireworks could be seen in the distance.

"You think they'll still go?" Eddie asked.

"Well, they aren't really expecting us to go, are they?" Ben said slyly as Eddie came to the same realization:

They were all going to be at that party.

Patricia sat on the bed, picking at the dark purple polish on her chewed fingernails. She really didn't want to go to this party, but Piper insisted.

"Ready?" Piper asked as she came out of the bathroom.

"As I'll ever be," Patricia muttered, following her sister out the door. All of a sudden, Piper gasped.

"What?" Patricia asked concerned.

"I think the baby just kicked!" Piper exclaimed worriedly.

Patricia laughed. "Piper I don't even think the baby has feet yet!"

Piper sighed. "I guess you're right..."

Patricia chuckled again. "I would've guessed Ben would be the paranoid one," she laughed, until she soon after realized she probably shouldn't have said that. "Oh, uh... I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," Piper sighed.

"Well, have you talked to him yet? What are you going to do?" She asked curiously. Hearing about Piper's problems always seemed to distract her from her own.

"Not yet..." Piper stated and Patricia nodded slowly. She hadn't exactly talked to Eddie either, but she didn't have a baby to worry about. She figured Piper of all people would have at least tried to figure something out by now.

"I haven't..." Piper started, but then paused. "I haven't exactly told him yet..."

Patricia stopped dead in her tracks. "You haven't told him yet?!"

Piper shook her head frantically. "I don't know how!"

"Well you don't know how to raise a baby either, and now you're gonna have to do it alone!" Patricia yelled, earning looks from the few people walking down the hall.

"I know," Piper whisper-yelled, trying to take the attention away from them, "and I didn't ask for you to make me feel bad too."

Patricia sighed, and found herself apologizing to Piper once again. The whole fight thing just had her all over the place. She didn't know what to do, and in all honesty, 'picture-perfect' Piper didn't either.

The two had calmed down a little on the way to the party, and once they had arrived, they felt a whole lot better. It was Independence Day for goodness sakes, they should be having fun, minus the fact they were both British. In a way, though, the day was perfectly fitting for them. They were both independent now, whether they wanted to be or not, and it was just going to have to be accepted.

Well, that's what they thought, until they saw both the backs of Ben and Eddie in the distance.

"Oh my god," Piper whispered, when she was sure Patricia had seen them too.

Patricia felt her blood boiling. Just what were they doing here? Did they think they could just show up and win them back? Because they were wrong.

"Those pigs," Patricia muttered angrily.

"Ok Trix, we've gotta stay strong right? Stand our ground!" Piper exclaimed.

"Um... Sure."

"Yeah! You know what? I'm just going to march over there and tell him, tell him I'm pregnant!" Piper stomped off, full of pride. Patricia had no idea where this sudden burst of courage came from, but she on the other hand, was not going to approach her problem. She was going to let it approach her, as always.

Ben swiveled around when he heard Piper call his name, a smile spreading across his face.

"I have something to tell you," she claimed, courage fading. She didn't know why she had this idea, but she was ready to back out, seeing Ben's face expecting her to say something was making this hard. "Actually... never mind," she muttered, turning away.

"Piper," Ben called, pulling her arm so she came back to him. "You can tell me."

She stared up at him with her blue-green eyes, internally debating what to do, but Ben couldn't take it any longer. He brushed a strand of hair out of the way before cupping her face with his hands. He kissed her, so slow and soft, almost as if she would break if he made one wrong move.

"I'm so sorry," he admitted after he pulled back. "I didn't mean any of that nonsense I said, and, If you can forgive me, it would still make me the happiest man alive to make you Mrs. Reed."

Piper's face broke out into the biggest smile Ben had ever seen, and she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him once more. "I'm pregnant!" She exclaimed, once they pulled apart.

Now it was Ben's turn once again to break out into a smile. "Piper! That's fantastic!" He shouted with joy as he threw his arms around her, spinning them around.

Eddie saw them from a distance, and smiled, content that Ben was able to fix things. But, now it was his turn, and he set off to find Patricia, wherever she could be hiding.

Patricia on the back of her friends truck, staring out into the darkness. Everyone else had moved to get a spot to view the fireworks, but she had decided to stay back. She did like fireworks, but today, especially right now, she wasn't in the mood.

"Hey..." She heard someone say, and turned her head to see Eddie standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"Eddie, is it?"

Eddie cracked a smile, even in her hostility, she could still make him laugh. Well, until he remembered they actually needed to sort things out. "We, uh, need to talk."

"Yeah, we do."

Eddie sighed, it seemed as if she wasn't going to be much help. "I didn't mean what I said..."

"I know," Patricia admitted nonchalantly.

"You do?" He asked in disbelief, and she nodded. "So, you're coming back?!"

"No," she said simply, as if it didn't bother her at all, while Eddie was getting frustrated.

"What do you mean no?" He exclaimed. How could she say she forgave him but not come back!? It didn't make sense.

"I mean, I'm not coming back."

Eddie couldn't believe it. Was she actually that stubborn that she couldn't forgive him? "After everything, you're just going to give up because of one stupid fight?!"

"Yep." She stated, keeping her eyes focused on her dark red bracelet. She knew if she looked up to see his hurt face, she would cave.

"But... But where are you going to go?"

"Back to England with Piper."

"But, but you can't," he huffed. It sounded dumb, yes, but it just sort of tumbled out.

Patricia scoffed. "And why is that? I don't need you to tell me what to do remember?" She snapped, finally looking up at him.

Eddie sighed, he'd said the wrong thing again. He didn't realize how much she was actually hurting from the whole 'flirting' thing, and he really wasn't sure how to change things. "I know, I know, I just though that-"

"That what? That I need you or something, Eddie?! I don't." She spat before getting up and walking away.

"I know..." Eddie mumbled to himself as she stomped away. "But I need you..."

She was proud of how she ended it. Piper had said they needed to be strong, and stand their ground, and that's exactly what she had done. She had a reason to be mad at him now, by telling herself he was too controlling, even though it was far from the truth, and he could be mad at her for just giving up like that.

And he was, he was so angry. But it wasn't like he could keep chasing after her. He couldn't make her stay, as much as he wanted to. This wasn't one of those fairy-tales where she would just take him back. If she was truly unhappy, he would have to let her go, and do whatever she needed to do to be happy. That's all that really mattered.

It simply sucked for both of them, it really did, especially when Patricia walked by Piper and Ben, cuddled together watching the fireworks.

Nice advice, Piper.

Finally an Update! Sorry about that, Finals week was rough! But now that I'm on break, I'll be working on getting this done! Thanks for all the feedback!