I know this is a pretty fast update and I'm trying to be a bit more patient and only post once ever few days but as I'm not actually over keen on this chapter, I just wanted it out of the way. It might seem a bit strange but it sets up the events for the next few chapters so bear with me, ok?! Reviews on the last chapter were awesome, those of you looking for the resolution to Pete and Allie's fight have a little while to go yet. Believe me when I say it gets much worse before it gets better...mwah-hahahaha! Anyway, try and enjoy this!
"So she starts doing that bird thing," Pete shook his head, downing another shot and then shoving the glass back and forth between his hands on the table. "You know, that fucking annoying thing they do where even when one of 'em is being a twat, they get all defensive of each other,"
"Aye," Benjamin sipped his pint. "So what was her argument for it?"
"I dunno, I wasn't really listening," Pete shrugged. "Something about me forgiving Bov for everything with Steve so why couldn't she forgive Shannon."
"And what was your argument against?" the Scotsman asked curiously.
"That Shannon's a lying, manipulative twat," Pete stated as though it was simply. "Sorry, mate," he nodded towards Matt who held up his hands and shrugged.
"No skin off my ass, believe me," he snorted, munching on the remnants of his bag of peanuts.
"Aw, mate," Swill grimaced, throwing the bag of pork scratchings he had just opened back onto the table. "Why'd you 'ave to go and talk about your arse?"
"I just thought Allie would be cuttin' me some slack at the moment," Pete shook his head. "It's bad enough that I'm not getting any, but then she has to flip her fuckin' lid and start screeching at me,"
"Hold up, brother," Benjamin smirked. "You mean to say on top of all this, you're going through a dry spell?"
"Dry spell?" Pete snorted. "Just call me Lawrence of fucking Arabia, mate,"
The boys laughed, watching sympathetically as Pete dropped his head down onto his arms and groaned. He knew it was unfair to be talking to the boys about this given Allie's reasons for wanting to wait a little while revolved mostly around her fear of the tiny amount of baby weight she had put on during the pregnancy. The nurse had told them that most women put on a minimum of two stone and Allie hadn't even put on one so he didn't get what she was scared of…she still looked sexy as hell to him.
"Poor bastard," Swill shook his head. "I didn't know it was this bad,"
"Maybe that's what you need to do to clear the air," Dave winked.
"She called me an arsehole and a fucking hypocrite and then slammed our bedroom door in my face," Pete gulped down the rest of his pint and winced as the bitter taste flooded his mouth. "You honestly reckon she'll be in the mood for that when I go back,"
"Try flowers," Swill told him. "Or chocolates, that's what works in films and shit, innit?"
"When did you last get laid?" Dave asked him, smirking when his friend started off into space, whispering numbers under his breath. "Case and point, mate,"
"Pete, maybe you should crash with me and Bovver tonight," Matt smiled. "I uh, I don't think going home like that is gonna do you any favours tonight,"
"Yeah, advice from a Buckner," he snorted. "That's just what I need."
Matt looked away and tried not to let it show how hurt he felt by Pete's remark.
"Sorry, mate," Pete sighed. "I'm just being a miserable cunt at the moment, ignore me, yeah?"
Knowing that it was true, Matt nodded and downed the rest of his pint, standing up and moving over to the bar to get another round in.
"Oi, speaking of miserable cunts," Dave called to Matt over his shoulder with a laugh. "Where is Bovver?"
"Uh, he brought some girl home last night and I haven't seen him since," Matt raised his eyebrows.
"Was she fit?" Swill asked.
"I've seen him bring home a lot worse," the yank grinned, turning back to the bar when it was his turn to be served.
"So what's the plan now, brother?" Benjamin reached across the table and nudged Pete. "You can't just stay here and get trashed all night,"
"Why not?" Pete grumbled, downing another shot.
"Because along with the fact that Allie will string you up by your balls, blue as they are…" he smirked, earning himself a 'fuck you' from Pete. "There's also the little fact that we have to go to work in about 10 hours,"
Belching loudly, Pete stared at the empty glasses in front of him and grimaced; had he really drunk all that? Digging the heel of his hand into his forehead and trying to ease the headache which was building there, he silently claimed defeat and leant back in his chair, staring at the ceiling of the bar and watching it spin.
"Right," he shook his head, trying to clear his slightly blurred vision. "I'm outta 'ere,"
Standing up, he grabbed Dave's shoulder for support and searched his pocket for his keys. Realising he had made the smart decision of leaving them at home, he sighed and instead pulled out his wallet.
"Aye, you need help getting' to the station?" Benjamin laughed.
"Nah, you're alright," Pete shook his head. "I'll see you in the morning,"
"Bright and early, eh, brother?" he saluted him and went back to talking with Dave and Swill about Chelsea's performance in the match against Arsenal last week.
Shoving the doors open, he bumped into a pretty blonde who was walking the door, ignoring her when she smiled flirtatiously at him and said something that he couldn't quite make out. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he veered left and started down towards the tube station, half hoping Allie was asleep when he got in so she wouldn't have to see him like this.
Not that he had anything to apologise for; she was his wife, his best mate, the mother of his child. Surely that meant that she should back him up, even if she did think he was being a wanker. He would have backed her up, just like the other night when she forced him to watch that shitty film, something to do with the devil and Prada. It was fucking awful but he still agreed with her every time she made some comment about shoes or make up.
That's what you did when you loved someone. But apparently that didn't apply to Allie…
Sighing, Pete realised that he was actually managing to have an argument with her without her even being present; coming to a stop outside the station, he rummaged through his wallet in search of change, getting impatient when all he found was coppers and the odd Czech coin left over from his stag do all those months ago.
Finding his Oyster card, he swiped it, jumping through the barrier and glancing up at the screen to check the train times. Seeing that one of the trains leaving now went through North Lambeth, Pete narrowed his eyes, his fists clenching at his sides. Ok, so maybe he could make one little stop before he went home.
Shannon Buckner. Shannon Buckner. Shannon Buckner.
Sighing as she started down at the unopened junk mail she had been writing on, Shannon dropped her head into her hands, still unused to writing her name without Dunham at the end of it. But she was a Buckner again, whether she liked it or not.
Taking another sip of vodka to which she had added just enough orange juice to tint the clear liquid, she brushed her hair out of her eyes and shoved the papers to the floor.
With a mental 'fuck it' she downed the rest of her drink and padded barefoot into her kitchen, navigating her way around the boxes on the floor in search of more drink.
"Getting trashed on your own," Shannon nodded to herself as she poured another glass. "That's a great sign,"
She jumped slightly when a loud knock sounded on the front door; this was the first night she had spend in her new place, no one even had the address yet with the exception of Steve. Praying it wasn't some new neighbour wanting to make friends, she kicked a box labelled 'photos' out of the way and padded out to the porch, yanking the door open and frowning when she saw the tall, handsome Dunham staring back at her.
"Pete?" she shook her head. "What're you-…"
"I need to talk to you," he told her firmly, his voice carrying a wave of hostility which made her spine turn cold. "But first off, I 'ave to take a piss, so d'you fancy letting me in?"
Dumb with shock, Shannon stepped aside, watching as the obviously near drunk man tumbled into the house, not bothering to ask her where the bathroom was as he sauntered down the hall.
Sighing loudly, she knew that this was going to be far from fun, she could only hope that he was too drunk to yell at her for more than five minutes.
Walking back into the kitchen, she grabbed the bottle of vodka, ignoring the glass she had poured and made her way into the living room, flopping down in the floor and pulling her knees up to her chest. The toilet flushed down the hallway and a second later, Pete was stood in the doorway, his arms folded over his chest as he stared at her harshly.
"See, I'm tryna work out whether you're twisted or just plain stupid," he shook his head.
"Pete, I really don't need this, ok?" she shot back. "If you're here to verbally bash me, then you can just piss off,"
"'old on," he snorted. "You show up outta the blue, fuck with Allie's head and you reckon you're in a position to tell me to piss off?"
"Fuck with Allie's head?" Shannon frowned. "I didn't fuck with her head, Pete. She's a big girl, she can make her own decisions,"
"That what you told yourself last time you 'ad a little chat with her?" he asked, stepping further into the room, his eyes narrowed. "Y'know, back when you was messin' with 'er to get custody of Ben?"
"God, are you even listening to yourself?" she laughed. "Would it kill you for a second to stop and think about the fact that what's going on here goes beyond you and Allie?"
"And did you not stop and think that you comin' back 'ere might not be the brightest of ideas?" he shouted. "Don't you think you've fucked up enough? Everything was goin' alright before you showed up, but you don't give a shit about any of that, do you?" he snorted. "Nah, just so long as you get what you want, it don't matter what 'appens to the rest of us,"
"What you think this is fun for me or something?" she stared up at him, unscrewing the bottle of vodka and taking a long swig from the bottle. "Oh yeah, Pete, see I just love seeing my husband with another woman not to mention the fact that I only get to see my son every couple of days…what a lucky girl I am, huh?"
"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you or something?" Pete raised an eyebrow, looking at her in disgust. "You did this to yourself,"
"And you're just going to ignore the fact that part of this is down to you, huh?" she spat at him.
"You what?" he laughed. "What the fuck did I do?"
"You dragged Steve back into this bullshit!" she screamed, standing up and bringing the bottle of vodka with her. "You single-handedly ruined everything I had worked for in my marriage, you put your own brother's life in danger just to defend your fucking reputation and you've got the audacity to stand there and tell me that I'm the one fucking everything up! Take a good look in the mirror, Pete,"
He took a step closer to her, staring down at her dangerously making her heart pound in fear.
"I didn't come 'ere to listen to your bullshit," he hissed. "Just stay the fuck away from my family, alright?"
He held her gaze for a long moment, wanting to make sure she understood how seriously he was about this. Turning on his heel, he strode back towards the front door, the haziness of the alcohol wearing off just slightly as the fury ripped through his veins.
"Pete!" she shouted after him, her voice cracking with emotion. "Would you just listen for one se-…"
Shannon winced as she stubbed her toe on one of the boxes, falling forward slightly and cursing as the bottle of vodka flew from her hand and crashed on the wooden flooring.
"Fucking great," she cried, dropping to her knees when she saw that half of it had spilled onto the open box marked photos. Ignoring the shards of glass around her, she picked out a soaking wet photo of her, Steve and Ben at the park and placed it carefully on the sofa, tears stinging her eyes when she realised that the ones underneath were ruined as well.
"Shit," she sobbed, banging her fist against the top of the soggy cardboard. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" the last one came out as a scream and she collapsed forward, sobbing for all she was worth.
Staring at the woman who was still ultimately his sister in law as she cried, Pete leant back against the front door and sighed; as pissed off as he was, there was no way he could leave her like this.
Quickly walking over to her, he hooked his hands under her arms and picked her up, pulling her over to the sofa with him and brushing the shards of glass off of her sweater.
"Get off me," she cried, shaking him off. "I don't need your God damn help,"
"Yeah, well captain Smirnoff begs to differ," Pete muttered, letting go of her.
"You didn't get any glass in you, did ya?"
"Its fine," Shannon sniffed, yanking a tiny piece of glass out of her finger and sucking the blood away. God, what of all people did it have to be Pete Dunham who saw her this way?
"Right," he nodded, standing up and wiping his hands nervously on the back of his jeans. "Well I'm gonna head off then, yeah?"
"I spent six months on my own, Pete," she told him quietly as he got half way to the door. "I had the occasional day with my son, listened to my dad lecture me on what he thinks I should have done, I had to watch my own brother turn his back on me," she shrugged. "You honestly think I'd come back here and risk losing more than I already have?"
"Shannon," Pete sighed, leaning his elbows on his knees. "I ain't gonna apologise for anything I said to you," he shrugged. "Call me a bastard all you want but I nothing I said wasn't true. I know you've got a fair amount of shit to deal with at the moment but…" he sighed and met her eyes. "Allie's the most important thing in the world to me…and I swear to God, Shannon if you hurt 'er…"
"What happened before…that day at the house when I hit her," She gulped as Pete's eyes darkened. "I didn't know what I was doing, ok? I wasn't the same person,"
"That's just what Allie said," he snorted.
"She told you she saw me?" Shannon blinked, surprised that given their history, Allie would bother telling Pete she was back.
"I found the card you gave to Poppy," he shrugged. "I got pissed off, she shouted, I shouted back, she told me to fuck off and I did,"
"You fought?" she winced.
"For the first time in about six months, yeah," he snorted. "You ain't exactly the master of damage control you think you are,"
"I had to come back, Pete," she told him earnestly. "I can't just give up on my family…I'm not letting Steve make this mistake,"
"What mistake?" Pete frowned.
"Oh he didn't tell you?" she laughed, running a hand through her hair. "He's planning on asking his little friend to move in with him,"
"Gemma?" Pete shook his head. "Nah, bollocks,"
"He wanted to tell me himself so I didn't feel he was going behind my back," her voice shook and Pete felt his stomach cramp a little when he saw her hand trembling. "At least he was nice enough to bring all my stuff round, huh?" she felt a tear slip out of her eye and bit her lip. "And who says divorce has to be awkward?"
"This thing with him and Gemma," Pete shrugged. "It ain't serious,"
"He's asking her to move in, Pete," she snapped. "Which means some fucking woman I don't even know is going to be around my son more than I am,"
"Why do you care?" he shook his head, his anger level spiking up again. "You left, remember?"
"No, actually I'd forgotten," she told him. "Thank you so much for reminding me, God knows what I'd do if you weren't here, Pete."
She expected him to shout back at her, a part of her wanted him to just so she could shout back and expel some of the fury running through her veins. But he didn't shout back at her, he just sat there smirking at her annoyingly.
"How much of that 'ad you 'ad before I showed up?" he pointed to the spilt vodka on the floor.
"Not nearly enough to deal with the fact that you did show up," she snapped. "Why?"
Rubbing his temples, he sighed and stared down at the floor for a moment before looking back up at her with the same smirk on his face.
"No reason," he shrugged. "I was actually just wonderin' if you 'ad any more?"
"I never hated you,"
"Yes you fuckin' did," Pete laughed leaning back against the sofa next to Shannon as she flicked through the slightly crumpled photos in front of them.
"Ok, so I was never in your fan club but can you blame me?" she snorted. "First time we met all you did was take the piss out of my accent." She looked at him sternly. "And don't think Steve never told me about the little conversation you had with him on his stag night,"
"I was drunk," Pete protested.
"You were trying to convince him to call the wedding off," Shannon shot back with a laugh.
"Yeah well I overheard you talking to Allie at your wedding," he smirked, lifting his glass to his lips and frowning when he realised he'd drunk it all. When had that happened?
"Tellin' 'er about how I was a screw up," he laughed. "You were about two seconds away from tellin' her to just give it up and dump me when I found you."
"From what I remember, she didn't look too impressed," Shannon rolled her eyes. "And it didn't work, did it?"
"Nah," Pete smiled smugly. "The opposite actually, that was the first night we had se-…
"I get it," Shannon laughed, holding her hand up to stop him from going into any more detail. Picking up a photo of Pete and Allie at the wedding she handed it to him and watched the grin spread across his face. "If someone had pulled you aside that night and said to you…" she hiccupped and grimaced as the taste of vodka filled her mouth. "And said to you that four years down the line you'd be married to Allie and you'd have a kid," she smile faintly. "What would you have said?"
Pete let out a deep breath, staring at the 22 year old version of himself on the dance floor with Allie, laughing at whatever she was saying to him, his arms wrapped around her waist as he tried not to step on her feet.
"I probably would've shit myself," he laughed, shaking his head. "I was 22 and had a fit girlfriend who I hadn't slept with yet," he grinned at the blue eyed woman next to him. "My agenda wasn't exactly on a huge scale,"
"Are you happy?" Shannon asked him quietly, half expecting him to tell her to go screw herself.
"With Allie?" he raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "I can't actually imagine life without 'er." He shrugged, showing his youth in the faint blush which covered his cheeks.
"I mean she can be fuckin' annoying, y'know? She can't cook without settin fire to something, she 'as shit taste in films, she steals my shirts and never gives 'em back, she talks in 'er sleep, she can be a right ponce when she wants to be and she takes shoes way too fuckin' seriously, but…" he grinned as Shannon chuckled. "I didn't think you actually could love someone to the point where even the bad shit about them is good; she's my best mate.." he shrugged. "I was just lucky enough to fall in love with her,"
"Better her than Bovver, huh?" Shannon nudged him and he laughed.
"He's my plan B," Pete joked. "Y'know if Allie ever leaves me…"
Giggling as she sipped the remainder of her drink, Shannon dropped her head back onto the sofa and drummed her fingers on her knee.
"If you'd told me that four years from that day I'd be sitting in a half empty house getting drunk off my ass with you of all people and going through a divorce," she rolled her eyes and lifted her glass in a toast. "I would have paid a lot less for my wedding cake,"
Pete laughed and shook his head, stretching his aching knee out in front of him and rubbing it through the material.
"Does it hurt?" Shannon nodded to him.
"Sometimes," he shrugged. "Now I'm back at work, playin' football with the lads and stuff can piss it off a treat,"
"Y'know what we need?" Shannon struggled to sit up, reaching out to the as of yet unopened bottle of whiskey. "We need more drink…"
Grabbing the bottle, she tipped over one of the boxes full of paper work and grunted, more than willing to ignore it for the time being.
"I should call Allie," he slurred. "Maybe I could get 'er over 'ere if she sees me and you gettin along she might not rip my balls of when I go 'ome later. And plus I don't think she's still forgiven me for not being able to drink on her hen night." He smirked, flipping his phone open and seeing the photo he'd taken of her and Poppy. "It was my fault for knocking her up apparently,"
"Tell her I said hi," Shannon waved at him. "And tell her to come over now, we've only just opened the whiskey so there's time for her to catch up…"
Blinking slowly so as to get his bearings Pete moved to push himself upright, skidding on one of the fallen envelopes under his palm.
Frowning, he bent down to pick it up, squinting at it.
"Oi," he pointed at Shannon. "I thought you said you was stayin' 'ere,"
"What?" she stared back at him.
"There's a fuckin' airplane ticket 'ere," he shook it at her. "I can't believe you fuckin' lied again…I…"
"Pete," she shook her head, standing up and almost falling. "Its not mine,"
"Well it came outta that box," he told her. "So…"
Rolling her eyes, Shannon snatched the ticket out of his hand and stared down at it, her eyes widening when she saw the name printed on it.
"Gemma Nolan," Shannon looked up at Pete. "Why does Gemma have a plane ticket to Portugal? Pete, why would Steve give me this? To prove a point? Make me feel worse than I already do?"
"Alright, fuckin' 'ell, calm down, will ya?" Pete shook his head. "Its probably nothin', yeah? It might be old,"
"Its booked for next week," she snapped holding the ticket up to his face. "Oh my God, he's leaving," her breathing became erratic and her eyes filled with tears. Why did this have to happen now? Sure, things between her and Steve were far from civil but he'd been happy enough when she'd announced she was living down the road, close enough to be with Ben.
"Nah, I don't think he is," Pete shook his head, frowning as he pulled a second ticket out of the envelope and squinted at it. "Don't suppose you know who James Walsh is, do ya?"
"What?" Shannon frowned, leaning over to get a look. "What the fuck is all this…"
"Well given my current state of mind, I ain't entirely sure I trust my own judgement but if I 'ad to take a guess," he shrugged. "I'd say our little friend is plannin' on doin' a runner,"
"You think she's cheating on him?" Shannon whispered. "With this James guy?"
"I dunno, Shan," he shook his head, crouching down on the floor and tipping through the box of papers upside down, sifting through them clumsily. "But I reckon if we 'ave a ganders through this lot, we might find somethin' else 'n all."
Shannon watched him for a moment, her stomach twisting nervously.
"Pete, this isn't right," she shook her head.
"Maybe not," he shrugged, casting a quick glance up at her. "And if you're really willing to let Steve go through all this shit then by all means," he pursed his lips. "I don't mind doin' this on my own."
"Fuck it," she mumbled, crouching down next to him and grabbing a pile of papers, sifting through them and ignoring the smirk she could see Pete sending her. "None of this means we're friends, you know?"
"Fuckin' 'ell," he laughed. "Get over yourself, yank. I can barely fuckin' stand you anyway and if it weren't for this," he held up the bottle of Jack Daniels. "Believe me, I would 'ave been outta here a long time ago."
Shannon felt the smile tug at her lips as she glanced up at him, catching the wink he shot at her before he went back to reading the letter he had just opened, twisting his silver wedding band thoughtfully as he did so.
So maybe he wasn't quite as bad as she's always thought he was; sure he was still an arrogant prick with more muscle than common sense but he had a family now and he'd turned his back on the GSE without Allie having to threaten him. He'd done it for her because he loved her that much, whereas Shannon had had to bargain with Steve.
Watching the determination pass over his youthful features as he tossed the letter to the side and picked up another one, Shannon smiled as she went back to reading her own letter, content for the first time in the five years since she'd met Pete to look at him for what he really was: her family.
So being the petulant child that I am, I decided to cut Shannon a break and turn Gemma into the evil bitch for a while...but there's one more twist to come... ;) PLEASE REVIEW, I know this chapter sucked but you guys are all that keeps me going! :)